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Blue-lined Sabertooth Blenny

Plagiotremus rhinorhynchos

Description:

Also known as Fangblennies, this group mimics bluestreak cleaner wrasse (Labroides dimidiatus) juveniles to enable them to loiter at cleaner stations and dupe clients waiting to be cleaned. The mimicry allows them to approach the fish, but instead of eating parasites or dead cells like the wrasse, it goes for the flesh. Their success in this aggressive mimicry is, like Batesian mimicry, frequency-dependent: it works best when the mimic is rare compared to the genuinely symbiotic cleaner fish.

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1 Comment

The MnMs
The MnMs 10 years ago

Samantha: this nice fish has been I guess by mistake been included into the Nudibranchs mission..could you please remove it from the mission? Many thanks :-)

SamanthaCraven
Spotted by
SamanthaCraven

Oriental Mindoro, Philippines

Spotted on Mar 18, 2012
Submitted on Apr 8, 2012

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