LIKE humans, it has been revealed that sharks and rays enjoy visiting cleansing ‘stations’ to get rid of their dead skin and external parasites, the Discovery Channel reported last Friday.
A research team at the school of ocean sciences at University of Wales carried out the study to monitor the interactions between thresher sharks and wrasse ‘cleaner’ fish in the Philippines.
The team revealed that the areas sharks go for cleaning are mostly located at an underwater mountain. The research team observed the sharks at the site for 1,230 hours. The study revealed that the sharks prefer cleaning in the morning.
‘Cleaners showed preferences for foraging on specific areas of the thresher shark’s body,’ the research team said.
‘For all events combined, cleaners were observed to conduct 2,757 inspections, of which 33.9 per cent took place on the shark’s pelvis, 23.3 per cent on the pectoral fins, 22.3 per cent on the caudal fin, 8.6 per cent on the head, 2.1 per cent on the dorsal fin and 1.5 per cent on the gills, respectively.’
To facilitate the wrasses, the sharks were seen swimming in a standing position, doing ballet-like twirls.