Cleaning symbiosis in the context of "Symbiont"

Symbiosis is any close and long-term biological interaction between two organisms of different species. In 1879, Heinrich Anton de Bary defined symbiosis as "the living together of unlike organisms". The term is sometimes more exclusively used in a restricted, mutualistic sense, where both symbionts contribute to each other's subsistence. This means that they benefit each other in some way.

Symbiosis is diverse and can be classified in multiple ways. It can be obligate, meaning that one or both of the organisms depend on each other for survival, or facultative, meaning that they can subsist independently. When one organism lives on the surface of another, such as head lice on humans, it is called ectosymbiosis; when one partner lives inside the tissues of another, such as Symbiodinium within coral, it is termed endosymbiosis. Where the interaction reduces both parties' fitness, it is called competition; where just one party's fitness is reduced, it is called amensalism. Where one benefits but the other is largely unaffected, this is termed commensalism. Where one benefits at the other's expense, it is called parasitism. Finally, where both parties benefit, the relationship is described as mutualistic.

Animal coloration is the general appearance of an animal resulting from the reflection or emission of light from its surfaces. Some animals are brightly coloured, while others are hard to see. In some species, such as the peafowl, the male has strong patterns, conspicuous colours and is iridescent, while the female is far less visible.

There are several separate reasons why animals have evolved colours. Camouflage enables an animal to remain hidden from view. Animals use colour to advertise services such as cleaning to animals of other species; to signal their sexual status to other members of the same species; and in mimicry, taking advantage of the warning coloration of another species. Some animals use flashes of colour to divert attacks by startling predators. Zebras may possibly use motion dazzle, confusing a predator's attack by moving a bold pattern rapidly. Some animals are coloured for physical protection, with pigments in the skin to protect against sunburn, while some frogs can lighten or darken their skin for temperature regulation. Finally, animals can be coloured incidentally. For example, blood is red because the haem pigment needed to carry oxygen is red. Animals coloured in these ways can have striking natural patterns.

Cleaner shrimp is a common name for a number of swimming decapod crustaceans that clean other organisms of parasites. Most are found in the families Hippolytidae (including the Pacific cleaner shrimp, Lysmata amboinensis) and Palaemonidae (including the spotted Periclimenes magnificus), though the families Alpheidae, Pandalidae, and Stenopodidae (including the banded coral shrimp, Stenopus hispidus) each contain at least one species of cleaner shrimp. The term "cleaner shrimp" is sometimes used more specifically for the family Hippolytidae and the genus Lysmata.

Cleaner shrimp are so called because they exhibit a cleaning symbiosis with client fish where the shrimp clean parasites from the fish. The fish benefit by having parasites removed from them, and the shrimp gain the nutritional value of the parasites. The shrimp also eat the mucus and parasites around the wounds of injured fish, which reduces infections and helps healing. The action of cleansing further aids the health of client fish by reducing their stress levels. In many coral reefs, cleaner shrimp congregate at cleaning stations. In this behaviour cleaner shrimps are similar to cleaner fish, and sometimes may join with cleaner wrasse and other cleaner fish attending to client fish.