Labroides dimidiatus
Cleaner wrasse | Blue Diesel Wrasse | Blue-streak Cleaner Wrasse | Cleaner Fish | Common Cleaner Wrasse | Common Cleanerfish | Striped Cleaner Wrasse
Similar Species
Distribution
Tropical Indo-Pacific
Description
Black stripe from snout through eye which widens along body into a black wedge on tail, grey forehead merging into blue on tail above, white breast merging into blue on tail below. Body elongate and snout pointed with mouth located at tip, which distinguishes it from it's near perfect mimic Aspidontus taeniatus (False Cleaner Fish), which has its mouth located on underside of snout. Juveniles black with neon blue line along back. Sets up cleaning stations where larger fish come to have parasites removed. Swims with a flamboyant style to attract fish for cleaning. Very common, sometimes approaches divers for parasite cleaning.
Information
Max Size: 14 cm
Sea Temperature Range: 17.4-31.2°C
Depth: 1-40 m
Habitat Generalization Index: 29.52
Also referred to as the SGI (Species Generalisation Index), this describes the habitat niche breadth of the species. Species with values less than 15 are found in a relatively narrow range of reef habitat types (specialists), while those over 25 may be found on most hard substrates within their range (generalists). Learn more here.
Conservation and Rarity
IUCN Status: Least Concern
Occurrence: Widespread (60.9% of sites)
Occurrence describes how often the species is found on surveys within its distribution. It is calculated as the % of reef sites surveyed by RLS divers across all the ecoregions in which the species has been observed
Abundance: Few (4 per transect)
Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.
Edit by: Joe Shields