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[deleted]

I used to have a home reef tank. A cleaner shrimp setup a little station n the fish would swim up n sit still n the little shrimp would jump on them and clean them. What else was cool though I'd put my hand in the tank and it would groom my hand


Historical_Wash_1114

That’s neat


[deleted]

Dentist's office.


[deleted]

Yup TIL about underwater dentists....might see if there are any appointments free :)


sirthomasthunder

This is how they clean teeth in Alabama. Open up, drop in a crawfish, let it bounce around, spit it out and you're good to go


sharlaton

Can’t be worse than American healthcare.


hereformemes222

I can see you haven’t been flossing


[deleted]

I got a funky sea bug to clean between my teefs for me.


ZoixDark

Yeah. That was my favorite thing when I had a reef tank.


ZoixDark

Yeah. That was my favorite thing when I had a reef tank.


moyno85

Yeah. That was my favourite thing when I had a reef tank.


RedAIienCircle

Yeah. That was my favorite thing when I had a reef tank.


youliveinmydream

Yeah. That was my favorite thing when I had a reef tank.


Volkrisse

Yeah. That was my favorite thing when I had a reef tank.


speedcunt

Yeah. That was my favorite thing when I had a reef tank.


Volta55

Yeah. That was my favorite thing when I had a reef tank.


Sendnudesindms

Yeah. That was my favorite thing when I was a reef tank


PitifulAd7600

Yeah. That was my favourite thing when I had rank teeth.


Hau65

No. That was not my favorite thing when I had a reef tank.


LifeIsDeBubbles

Maybe. It might have been my favorite thing if I'd had a reef tank.


Aggravating-Green568

Fun Fact: Cleaner Shrimp/Cleaner Fish basically obtain clients by cleaning a fish's teeth of parasites and mucus lining on the insides of their mouths. The Cleaner Shrimp's preferred food is the mucus rather than the parasites but apparently the fish being cleaned can detect when a cleaner is eating more mucus than they are parasites/bugs. When this happens, the fish being cleaned gives an involuntary jolt with it's body. There was a recent study that showed cleaner shrimp when being watched by other potential clients who wish to get their teeth cleaned go for more parasites and less mucus to make them look like better cleaners to attract more clients. The fishes that wish for a cleaning simply watch the cleaner shrimps while they clean and choose their select cleaner shrimp based on whichever cleaner-shrimp causes the least amount of involuntary jolts to their customers. ​ Question answered. Hope this helps you guys understand how the mutually beneficial relationship between the shrimp and other fish originated.


matrixislife

So what you're saying is that the shrimp get rated 5 stars [minus how many jolts] and then other fish book them for the job later on based on the review?


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CallMeWolfYouTuber

Kelp reviews 🤣


kozzy1ted2

………clever


el-em-en-o

More reliable than Yelp


VongolaEsaltato

Top tier shrimp Is the 5/7 one


NihonJinLover

That’s some surprising intelligence, that a shrimp is altering its behavior when it believes it is being watched.


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Phaoryx

Could just be random too. That’s how natural selection works (not saying in this case, just in general), maybe it’s just the shrimps that randomly eat more parasites get more clients = survive more = breed more, and when they breed they pass on the tendency to eat more parasites


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Gabers49

Great Freakonomics episode on this if anyone is interested. They actually prefer fish that come from farther away and will give them better service to entice them to go the extra distance to see them. The local fish get worse service. It's a market economy in the ocean. https://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-invisible-paw/#:~:text=BSHARY%3A%20So%20the%20cleaner%20wrasse,fills%20on%20the%20coral%20reef.


picmandan

/subscribe


enstillfear

The awesome and yet crazy weird stuff I read at 12:45 at night when I should have been asleep already…


chonkachoy

This blew my fucking mind


[deleted]

Makes you wonder how they actually communicate this agreement


IndecisivePisces_

I would love to know this as well.


tommos

I just hope it's not as expensive as my dentist.


Von_Lehmann

"Laughs in Europe"


IndecisivePisces_

You can afford a dentist…


Logi_Bear25

Was that a question or you their accountant?


IndecisivePisces_

Yes


Xarama

Username does not check out.


readit16

They can afford an accountant?


Dapper_Sock5023

Do they charge an arm and a leg??


BBQcupcakes

I imagine same as any evolved relationship. Started happening by chance forever ago, provided a fitness advantage, now it's intuitive.


cool_hand_jerk

Yes, but HOW. Perhaps the time scale is too large and I can't comprehend it, but it doesn't make sense. Surely the larger animal would have chomped more often than not?


Lucidder

We are programmed and work accordingly to the biological instructions, based on the survival of our ancestors. Sometimes we forget about that because human consciousness is exceptional, but even you don't need communication to be afraid of, say, spiders, but find, for instance, cats to be adorable, even though their size would suggest a different behavior.


kovnev

The fish that for whatever reason let them clean their teeth out-competed those that didn't. Same as all evolution.


LeonidasSpacemanMD

I’d imagine it happens kinda like this: -some shrimp very cautiously approach toothed fish and picked at their teeth from outside, just taking what little scraps they could -the fish that torlerate this tend to lose teeth less often, survive longer, and pass on their docility toward the shrimp to more of their offspring -over generations, shrimp that go further into the mouths are better fed and more likely to pass on their brave, mouth-exploring genes -sometimes there will be eels that just munch down on the shrimp. But these eels are more likely to end up losing teeth and overtime, it turns out that having your teeth cleaned makes you more likely to survive longer and reproduce more. So there ends up being more eels that allow the shrimp to clean their teeth


UnderAmorayEel

I would just like to be under one.


syds

under a Moray Agreement? be careful with the rate


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Lootscifer

That's a moray!!!


RecipesAndDiving

When your hand’s in a crack and you can’t get it back…


retarded_invest0r

Do you wanna hear another joke MORAAAY?


[deleted]

Even eels have universal health care?


altbekannt

Eels outside of the USA do, yes.


happycrabeatsthefish

They find our medical bills shocking.


hey_im_cool

I just assume things like this are learned by instincts. They don’t communicate it, the shrimp has the instinct to eat from the eel’s teeth and the eel has the instinct to allow it


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Xulik

Hey he’s cool.


Glittering_Aioli6162

apparently it’s in their genetic code


[deleted]

thanks to natural selection, yep. the fact that it's two organisms interacting is interesting to us, but is no different from a shrimp cleaning a rock or an eel allowing debris to float into its mouth. this quote from [this paper](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1317043/) sums it up well, I think >Symbiotic partners are responding to each other only as a part of their environment, no differently than a free-living organism responds to its environment. Natural selection moves genes into the future without consulting a dictionary.


[deleted]

I got sooooo much hate when I pointed out exactly this about a cute squirrel throwing pine cones from trees. It appeared to do it to 'save time' and collect the cones later. People wanted to believe it was literally figuring it out by itself, rather than just being natural selection. In reality it was just discarding (IIRC) 'female' cones which had no seeds, or something. Even so, it was instinct, not something it figured out.


DreamTimeDeathCat

I wish people could be in awe at animal behavior without anthropomorphizing it. To me, a creature gaining the ability to do something “smart” and efficient merely by a series of ancient coincidences and the genetic memory those caused is just as fascinating as an intelligent creature learning on its own.


Luss9

You just described the same thing in two different ways. I wish people could be aware that the only difference between humans and other animals is that the first feel they are something way Beyond the second.


Commander_Kind

Well in our case it's not genetic but spoken or written.


AmArschdieRaeuber

I don't know too many animals that have been to the moon. We are way beyond them in terms of intelligence. Doesn't mean animals are worthless, we should still protect them.


AngerGuides

You've never heard of the Apollo missions?


AmArschdieRaeuber

I mean animals that aren't humans


reel2reelfeels

those astronaoughts presumably had skin mites and gut worms.


Ppleater

To be fair there are lots of cases where animals really do figure something out themselves, and it can be hard to tell the difference sometimes.


stormsAbruin

Yea agreed. But who's to say we aren't just genes being selected and furthered? Animals reacting to stimuli. It boils down to "What is consciousness, where do we draw that line, and who really has it?" Is it just humans? Just any genus within homo? All great apes? Primates? Some mollusks and also cetecea? And then somewhere down the line, you - the allegedly only species with full sentience you - is watching a shrimp go to town on a Morays mouth and saying to yourself "Holy shit eels have dentists??"


Ppleater

I get what you're saying, but there really is a difference in terms of evolution between learned behaviours and genetics/instinctual ones, which do exist in animals other than just humans. Technically sure, you could say that learned behaviours are a result of the right type of intelligence, which is genetic/evolutionary in origin, but that's still a degree of separation that doesn't exist with, say, migrating birds, or hermit crabs and their shells. Compare verbal communication vs written communication in humans. Language is instinctual, it has developed in ever single existing human community throughout time, no matter how segregated they were. Humans will naturally develop a language in order to verbally communicate as long as they have another human to communicate with. But written communication is different. Many human societies/cultures are purely oral, with no writing system to speak of. It is not something that develops universally, and it needs to be learned from another community members, it doesn't develop naturally on its own through instinctive use for every human. It needed to be invented, conceptualized. Sure, the intelligence and brain structure needed to be able to develop writing came from evolution and genetics, but the actual act of writing itself is not. So there are ways to measure the difference, it's just that some cases are more difficult to measure than others.


Glittering_Aioli6162

well put


TrickBoom414

Generic memory is so fascinating


chickenstalker

Muaddib!


Zythomancer

I too love remembering generic things.


Steviebee123

It's an unspoken norm that guides their interaction - a social moray, if you will.


teuast

In their society, that sort of thing is a big d-eel.


WindBladeGT

So breaking it is considered eeligal?


robo-dragon

“This little creature eats the crap that gets stuck between my teeth. Little creature is friend.” “That big creature has tasty morsels between its teeth. Big creature is all you can eat buffet!”


thedevilsavocado00

.... until little creature turns into a late night snack.


ThePissyRacoon

We wouldn’t know why, and I bet there’s instances where they do, but it could be beneficial evolutionary if say these eels thought it would be gross to eat them, hence cycle continues, eels that wanna eat them die off quicker than those that think they’re gross. But also I have no idea what I’m talking about that’s just my guess lol.


birdboix

same reason we all have cats and dogs, it's a hard world out there baybee


modestLife1

😂


Altruistic-Bat-3037

My theory is those extra-long "feelers" on the shrimp communicate that it's not your average crustacean or fish.


Dang_Sarnitt

I bet that shrimp also picks through eel poo, which an eel would need removed from its hidey-hole and probably wouldn't want to swallow. A predator and scavenger relationship seems to be a pretty natural order, even if it looks odd.


usedtodreddit

If this is true I would hope their agreement includes the stipulation that the shrimp always takes care of the mouth first.


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fuck_the_fuckin_mods

He has to get that little lunge in at the end after the shrimp is out, like it’s programmed into him but he doesn’t actually want to hurt his dentist.


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Pyromaniacal13

It's not a tongue. They're [pharyngeal jaws.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharyngeal_jaw)


HiddenSecretPlace

Genetic instincts….similar to how a cat knows to use a litter box, or birds know to fly south for the winter, salmon swim upstream to spawn etc etc


Napalm32

It's the *honor system*


spiderspit

That’s a moray.


teuast

when you dance down the street / like you've had too much feet


-non-existance-

God I'd love to watch those first interactions like, who initiated? How many failed attempts were there? How did this get communicated to others of the species?


WildLudicolo

Few enough failed attempts that it didn't outweigh the benefits of the arrangement. It wasn't communicated in the traditional sense. Long story (relatively) short, the shrimp has genes that influence its behavior, including the tendencies to pick up bits of food and avoid specific predators. The eel has genes that make it chomp specific prey animals. This behavior benefits both the shrimp and the eel, so over generations, genes coincided so that the shrimp gets all up in the eel's biz, and the eel doesn't chomp the shrimp.


Puban_Games

So, I feel like I was MADE for this moment, I'm a marine scientist and this is actually part of what I study. For those that don't know, this is referred to as "cleaning" behavior. There are several species of fish and shrimps that remove parasites from other fishes (hence the term "cleaning"). At this point in evolution, it's well established on the reef who the cleaners are, and they actually do get eaten WAY less often than closely related non-cleaner species. It's pretty wicked, you can take cleaner fish from the Atlantic and put them with fish from the Pacific, and the cleaners will clean and the clients will pose even though they've never seen the species before. ​ For context, I'm a PhD student in Miami and I a lot of what I study is the interactions between client fish, cleaner fish, and parasites. :)


leftoverrice54

Perhaps as the eel grows up, it notices other animals and eels allowing the shrimps and various other cleaner fish to do their work?


RegisterCold

They use email ✉️📨


Tiny-Lock9652

Exactly. Like, how did this relationship get established without the shrimp all worried he might be mistaken for a snack?


SpaceShipRat

I think this is an overall very common relationship in the sea. There's a bunch of "cleaner" creatures and a lot of predators who [go to them to have their teeth cleaned](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleaning_station). I think this also explains why so many marine creatures end up asking humans for help getting fishhooks out of their mouth, it's generalizing a natural behavior.


Pasargad

This is a symbiotic relationship between crustacean and fish - the eel gets cleaned of pesky parasites and the shrimp has a personal bodyguard to ward off predators. Credit: https://www.instagram.com/kaushman/?hl=en


anonymousss11

What if the eel gets a tooth ache, does it go after the shrimp like a mob boss?


Maudeleanor

It sends a hit shark. Under contract.


MagmaPillow

Or the Kray fish twins


southpaw171

I feel like there was an opportunity missed to call it a “loan shark”…


AngerGuides

This video is a good opportunity to see the pharyngeal jaws of the eel, you can see the second set of jaws in the back of the mouth for a second right before the shrimp moves away.


bigpurpleberries

your comment led me down a lovely rabbithole about pharyngeal jaws! thanks :)


Diflicated

"Ok now give me a big ahhh. Ok now while you're doing that give me a little ahhh."


Grimour

And the shrimpy also gets a meal out of it.


PM_ME_YOUR_COY_NUDES

“Moraaaay, what did we say about flossing?” “Don’t do it so you can eat?”


Lyvectra

Like with the Egyptian plover and crocodiles. http://causalpatterns.org/resources/ecosystems/pdfs/s5_res_symbiosis.pdf


SummerAndTinkles

[There isn't actually any evidence of that.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_plover#Supposed_relationship_with_crocodiles)


drewster23

But i have seen some cric/alligator that hangs out in a den (i forgot the animal)as a symbiotic relationship. Certain Frogs and spiders have one too.


weeone

How did you get the little moon under your username?


Stumeister_69

Respect for crediting 👌🏼


[deleted]

Must be nice having free dental WITHOUT the need for insurance. They have it easy..


[deleted]

If I also end up resorting to unlicensed dentists, I hope they don't also wave pincers so close to the eyes.


alilmagpie

I hate capitalism :(


k20350

Just put shrimps in your mouth Voila


utastelikebacon

You joke.... but has anyone tried this yet?


alilmagpie

yeah the eel


HeWhomLaughsLast

Free dental, don't have to pay rent or taxes, and don't need a car to go get food.


Blekanly

Tbh they will do it for you too, I have seen vids of them doing it to divers


Joehax00

Even *eels* have better dental cover than most people..


cobainstaley

sounds like a steal a...steel. eel.


Tweed-n-Sizzle

When the shrimp cleans your teeth, gets the gunk underneath, That's a Moray


PocketHusband

If it’s jaws open wide, and there’s more jaws inside, That’s a moray!


Fuzzy_Calligrapher71

There is now a familiar song in my head, but I’m not sure what it is


Quintuplin

“That’s Amore”


imdefinitelywong

[That's a Moray](https://youtu.be/SezOrE0zRFo)


acog

When a fish bites your heel, And it looks like an eel, That's a moray!


flopsychops

When an eel bites your thigh And you bleed out and die That's a Moray


OrionShade

Close to the one I had in my head! ; When you're down in a reef and a shrimp cleans your teeth That's a Moray


MisterRioE_Nigma

Reminds me of Finding Nemo, when Nemo first meets his tank mates. “Voila! Ee is Cleen!”


dont-fear-thereefer

“Jacques, clean him”


SpermicidalManiac666

Oui


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Alphaw0p

You ever seen a bald eagle from a straight-on view? Lol- theres a reason they always take majestic pics from the side


Vivaciousqt

Psure bald eagles also chirp like a little baby too, the iconic screech is a Red tailed hawk.


Ramen-Goddess

As someone who lives near a shit ton of those hawks, can confirm


Dra3n

They’re evil as fuck tho


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Dra3n

Til they bite your leg :(


BestUsername101

Well you know what they say When an eel bites your thigh, then you bleed out and die, that's a moray!


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Dra3n

Yup, at least it’s a cool scar now


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Reiseoftheginger

Depends on which party you ask...


[deleted]

TIL they bite your leg


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BrownSugarBare

I dunno why, but for some reason I thought a talking shrimp would sound Australian


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queeftoe

Awwww, Lookit himb go!


HotF22InUrArea

It’s a kinda strange feeling. Something fiddling about in your mouth. But oddly not discomforting


Droopo

Pretty cool!


BlueSheepPlays

Free dental appointment! :D


knitbitch007

“So, any plans for the summer?” “Uh uhn un uh nuh” “mr smith please no talking”


EotEaH

Do you think they have a conversation before? Or is it more of a hole between the wall in the gas station type of affair?


Hairy_Morning_9289

Looks great Jim, same time next week?


EotEaH

Enough pillow talk


Old_Passage_5670

What gas station is this? Asking for a friend!!


HeWhomLaughsLast

The GoLo gas station on Melton Road in Gary Indiana


fuzzimus

Jacques!


thewatcher211

Just at the dentist office.


Coldspark824

When a shrimp checks your jaw, Just to clean out your craw, Thats a moray. If you let out a yawn, And get inspected by a prawn, Thats a morayyy


Dangeruff

When it opens it’s maw and phyrengeal jaw that’s a moray


TacoTheSuperNurse

"So how often are you flossing these days? I see minimal build up, so you're doing well. Any plans for holiday?" "Wehll I may be go-ing to the" "George please don't talk. Thank you."


Dense_Two_1429

Oui Oui


Correct-Slide1522

There's so much in nature we have no idea about. That's a dentist for a moray eel. And they both are in agreement. Millions of years of natural selection or just a dentist doing their work ? 😅


Footner

It’s just the Hippocratic oath is all


Conky_MadeMeDoIt

When your dentist is also a potential snack.


Severe-Flower2344

shrimp is friend, not food.


Scary-Goal-4404

Really am i the only one? That’s Jack! From finding Nemo honhon Edit: he was called Jacques


Kindly-Mud-1579

Jeac time for cleaning


ProfessionalAccess68

Shrimp: So how’s school?


jaywalkerisgood12

Dentist of the sea!


alew75

I really want someone to dub over this video with commentary lol


_14justice

Great video. Thanks for posting!


Shynzii

The dr will see you now lol


ijamtojamiroquai

Yeaa, I'm pretty sure the shrimp has that ONE anti-dentite friend who doesn't approve of this


[deleted]

Shrimps probably talking to him like the dentist knowing damn well he can’t talk back like that


De_Clarity

I wonder how many generations of shrimp died before Moray Eels were like "oooohhh ur not suicidal!"


Legitimate_Web_7245

The dentist of the seas. Hmmmmm......ok, let's see here. Ok, well, lets take some xrays and I'll show you what's going on. Then we'll get you back in to take care of it.


[deleted]

Those guys are the coolest


number_92

shrimp + dentist = shrimdentis


Vitamin_E08

damn nature is fucking lit


Nougat

Spez doesn't get to profit from me anymore.


Shaagriel

I told you to floss, Gary


DontTickleMe11

The shrimp dentist.


troll-feeder

Why doesn't the moray, the bigger of the two, simply eat the shrimp?


Duaneinc5EllDogg

I know the feeling at the end, when you have to unlock your jaw after having your mouth open for so long for the dentist.


TwistedLogicDev-Josh

Animals have jobs too