The Day Shift Dwellers
At first glance the daytime reef seems very busy. Dozens of fish mill about the coral boulder. In the midst of the confusion, a delicate shrimp can be seen heading straight into the gaping jaws of a moray eel. A few feet away a bawl breaks out when a Butterfly fish crosses an invisible line dividing it's turf from a neighbors.

Gradually, if you watch, order appears. The Butterfly fish is merely defending his home as the clown fish retreats to his, the cleaner shrimp picks a parasite from the teeth of his waiting customer, the moray eel.

Color sends a signal. Make a spectacle of your self and chances are you'll be noticed. That doesn't seem to make good survival sense. If an animal gets noticed it gets eaten. Yet there are hundreds of brightly colored characters parading around the coral reef. The vivid colors communicate messages of welcome, warning, or courtship. Scientists believe that coloring and distinctive markings show an animals place in the community.

A lot of the animals on the reef use color to advertise their services or messages. Many species of cleaner fish sport black or electric blue stripes that run the whole length of their bodies. Like a barbers pole, the stripes are the signs of their profession. A cleaner fish removes annoying parasites that irritate skin, mouth and gills of larger fishes. In return, the cleaner fish gets a meal. This is called a symbiotic relationship.

As a prospective customer approaches a cleaner fish rushes up with a jubilant greeting. The cleaner fish zigzags back and forth in front of the larger fish - perhaps a combination of the natural instinct to flee and the desire to feed. The client may signal it wants attention by changing color, standing on its head or tail or by yawning. A cleaner fish may move right in to the waiting customers mouth. Good intentions aren't always rewarded. Sometimes the cleaner gets consumed.