Now that our Giant Moray eel has had his skin cleaned (see part 1), it is ready for some dentistry. The Banded boxer shrimp that had moved to the ceiling of the coral nook that is acting as a cleaning station, now moves down and alongside the eel in order to clean parasites and food waste from the giant's teeth. It's amazing to see how quickly and nimbly the shrimp's many appendages flitter through the eel's fangs. Another item of note, can you see the blue patch on the underside of the shrimp? This color is often used in cleaning symbiosis to communicate intent. A fascinating case of interspecies communication using color.
Filmed in the Maldives during our Waitt Expedition with 100 Island Challenge from Scripps Institution of Oceanography, the Maldives Marine Research Institute and the Government fo the Maldives. We are working there to help protect the ocean around that island archipelago by collecting scientific data to inform their Marine Spatial Plan.
Film by Joe Lepore.
