{"id":597575,"date":"2023-10-19T14:31:41","date_gmt":"2023-10-19T18:31:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/?p=597575"},"modified":"2024-08-16T12:02:57","modified_gmt":"2024-08-16T16:02:57","slug":"oceans-secret-spa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/water-habitat\/oceans-secret-spa\/","title":{"rendered":"Ocean’s Secret Spa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Have you ever wondered how marine animals keep clean? Common loons preen their feathers with their bills, and harbor seals use their flipper claws, but what about other marine animals like fish? Well, it turns out that some marine animals enjoy a nice day at the spa. You heard that right: A SPA!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Photo Credit: Matt McIntosh<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Okay, okay, not a spa exactly. These places are actually more like cleaning stations. Marine animals of all shapes and sizes visit these stations to receive care. Tiny shrimp or fish will clean bigger fish and other sea creatures, nibbling away dead skin, bacteria, and parasites. The smaller fish get to enjoy a meal\u2014and keep the bigger fish healthy in the process!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which animals work at these special cleaning stations?<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
  1. Cleaner Wrasse<\/li>
  2. Cleaner Shrimp<\/li>
  3. Butterfly Fish<\/li>
  4. Neon Goby<\/li>
  5. Surgeon Fish<\/li>
  6. Parrot Fish<\/li>
  7. Angel Fish<\/li>
  8. Seabirds<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    These and several other species attract \u201cclients\u201d like sharks, turtles, rays, and eels. Some of these \u201cclients\u201d open their mouths wide to let \u201ccleaners\u201d pick food and debris from their teeth\u2014just like when you go to the dentist! But even the predators know better than to eat the cleaners!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    A Cheater!<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    When you go to the spa, you expect to receive care, right? What if you got the opposite? Let\u2019s say your beautician pinched you. Yikes!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    At cleaning stations, a species called the false cleanerfish mimics the look and dance of the cleaner wrasse to lower the client fish\u2019s guard. Instead of cleaning off their clients, this cheater attacks! The clients leave in a huff\u2014which makes it harder for real <\/em>cleaner fish to get the food they need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Luckily, both cleaners and clients will punish and chase these cheaters away. Even regular cleaners who try to cheat will be taught a lesson!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    One little problem…<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Cleaning stations are often near reefs, which face many threats, including pollution, climate change, illegal fishing, storms, and disease. As the reefs disappear, so do the fish that call them home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    But wait! It\u2019s not too late to do something! We <\/strong>have the power to stop a big threat to cleaning stations: pollution. By keeping our rivers and shores clean, we can reduce the amount of trash that eventually makes its way to our oceans, harming marine life!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Cleaner fish help keep our oceans clean. Let\u2019s help them, too–by cleaning our shores!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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    \"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

    Accept the Shoreline Saver mission in the Missions section in the Earth Rangers App to start planning your own shoreline clean-up! You\u2019ll get ton of helpful information to get you well on your way to becoming a Wildlife Hero!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    And that\u2019s not all! Just for completing the mission, you\u2019ll receive a free <\/em>wildlife adoption kit! You can choose between a harbor seal and a common loon to be your avatar\u2019s new best buddy.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Plus, every wildlife adoption kit includes a donation, courtesy of our friends at Dawn, to The Marine Mammal Center or International Bird Rescue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Download the Earth Rangers app to accept the Shoreline Saver mission and claim your FREE adoption kit!<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Generously supported by<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n
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    \"\"\/<\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Have you ever wondered how marine animals keep clean? Common loons preen their feathers with their bills, and harbor seals use their flipper claws, but what about other marine animals like fish? Well, it turns out that some marine animals enjoy a nice day at the spa. You heard that right: A SPA! Photo Credit: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":597577,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[931,662],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-597575","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all","8":"category-water-habitat"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597575"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597575\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":597749,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597575\/revisions\/597749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthrangers.com\/EN\/US\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}