To save this word, you'll need to log in.
Definition of cleaner wrasse
: any of a genus (Labroides) of small tropical wrasses found typically on coral reefs of the Indian and Pacific oceans that clean larger fish (such as surgeonfish) of parasites and dead tissue
It has been known that a small fish called the cleaner wrasse eats parasites off larger reef fish and that it sometimes sneaks a nibble of skin mucus.— T. A. Frail et al., Smithsonian, September 2011 Customers respond by suspending their normal predatory instincts and hanging almost in a trance, mouths and gills open, while the cleaner wrasses work—often swimming inside the mouths of larger fishes to find the parasites.— John Vandenbeld, Nature of Australia, 1988
Keep scrolling for more
Comments on cleaner wrasse
What made you want to look up cleaner wrasse? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).
Test Your Vocabulary
July 2020 Words of the Day Quiz
- Which is a synonym of mien?
Can you spell these 10 commonly misspelled words?
TAKE THE QUIZ
Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.
TAKE THE QUIZLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridgedWords at Play
Ask the Editors
Share cleaner wrasse
Time Traveler for cleaner wrasse
The first known use of cleaner wrasse was in 1963
See more words from the same year