Ecology Summary - Labroides phthirophagus

Language:

Main Ref.	Lieske, E. and R. Myers, 1994
Remarks	Found in most coral reef habitats except in the surge zone (Ref. 9710). Obligate cleaner (Ref. 9710), picks parasitic crustaceans from other fishes. The surface mucus of host fishes appears to represent a stable food resource for cleaner fishes like Labroides phthirophagus. It is likely that host surface mucus provides cleaners with a reliable energy source in the form of carbohydrates while ectoparasites represent a less stable protein source (Ref. 35736).

Main Ref.

Lieske, E. and R. Myers, 1994

Remarks

Found in most coral reef habitats except in the surge zone (Ref. 9710). Obligate cleaner (Ref. 9710), picks parasitic crustaceans from other fishes. The surface mucus of host fishes appears to represent a stable food resource for cleaner fishes like Labroides phthirophagus. It is likely that host surface mucus provides cleaners with a reliable energy source in the form of carbohydrates while ectoparasites represent a less stable protein source (Ref. 35736).

Aquatic zones / Water bodies

	Marine - Neritic	Marine - Oceanic	Brackishwater	Freshwater
Marine zones / Brackish and freshwater bodies	supra-littoral zone littoral zone sublittoral zone	epipelagic mesopelagic epipelagic abyssopelagic hadopelagic	estuaries/lagoons/brackish seas mangroves marshes/swamps	rivers/streams lakes/ponds caves exclusively in caves

Highighted items on the list are where Labroides phthirophagus may be found.

Habitat

Substrate
Substrate Ref.
Special habitats	Coral Reefs;
Special habitats Ref.

Associations

Ref.
Associations
Associated with
Association remarks
Parasitism

Feeding

Feeding type	mainly animals (troph. 2.8 and up)
Feeding type Ref.	Lieske, E. and R. Myers, 1994
Feeding habit	picking parasites off a host (cleaner)
Feeding habit Ref.	Lieske, E. and R. Myers, 1994

Trophic Level(s)

Estimation method	Original sample		Unfished population		Remark
Estimation method	Troph	s.e.	Troph	s.e.	Remark
From diet composition
From individual food items	4.03	0.67			Trophic level estimated from a number of food items using a randomized resampling routine.
Ref.

Back to Search

cfm script by eagbayani, , php script by rolavides, 2/5/2008 , last modified by mbactong, 10/24/19