Hawaiian Cleaner Wrasse

Photo: olieturner3 · CC BY-NC

The Hawaiian cleaner wrasse is an endemic species that operates dedicated cleaning stations throughout Shark's Cove, where larger fish queue to have parasites, dead tissue, and debris removed from gills and skin. Its distinctive yellow-to-purple gradient colouration signals its cleaning role to client fish, and its presence in high densities indicates a healthy, parasite-regulated reef community inside the cove's sheltered basalt chambers.