| False Cleanerfish | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Information | |
| Range | Indo-Pacific |
| Scientific Classification | |
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Class | Actinopterygii |
| Order | Perciformes |
| Family | Blenniidae |
| Genus | Aspidontus |
| Species | A. taeniatus |
The False cleanerfish, (Aspidontus taeniatus), is a species of combtooth blenny that mimics the "dance" of the bluestreak cleaner wrasse, a similarly colored species of cleaner wrasse. It tricks fish into offering their underparts to be cleaned. Instead of eating parasites from the scales of the fish in a mutualistic cleaning symbiosis, the sabre-toothed blenny bites the victim and rushes away. Fish that have in the past been victimised in that way might attack other cleaner wrasse innocently trying to groom them.
It is indigenous to coral reef habitats in the Indo-Pacific.