Cleaner Shrimp

Photo: Gianfrs · CC BY-NC-ND

The European cleaner shrimp establishes cleaning stations in the crevices between vent-warmed boulders on the Fumose's flanks, where it waves its antennae to advertise services to passing fish. Grouper, moray eels, and even large wrasse queue patiently at active stations, adopting a head-down posture to signal their willingness to be cleaned. These stations are one of the most reliably observable animal interactions on any Mediterranean dive and are particularly accessible here because the vent heat keeps them active well into late autumn.