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Bluestreak cleaner wrasse

Labroides dimidiatus

This specie of cleaner wrasse is the most common in French Polynesia.
Photo: John Hoover

Other fish line up at its cleaning station, offering their skin and gills for a careful inspection.

Local names
Po'ou

About this species

The regional guide describes this as the most common cleaner wrasse in French Polynesia. A pale body with a broad dark stripe and bright blue highlights is its familiar pattern, though colour varies. It occurs in coral-rich habitats at roughly 1–40 m.

Small parasitic crustaceans on other fish provide food. Clients visit a cleaning station and allow the wrasse to work over them. Even fish-eating species may accept the cleaner’s attention instead of treating it as prey. Removing parasites benefits the clients’ condition and health.

We can find it in corellian zones between 3 and 130 feet deep.
Photo: John Hoover
It has a white body and a black band on top with a blue streak in the middle of its back that extends from its head to its tail.
Photo: John Hoover
It eats minuscule, parasite crustaceans that are found in other fish, hence its name “cleaner”.
Photo: John Hoover
Fish present themselves at cleaning “stations” to benefit from the cleaning.
Photo: John Hoover

DORIS - Labroides dimidiatus
FishBase - Labroides dimidiatus