Cleaning station
![A reef manta ray at a cleaning station, maintaining a near stationary position atop a coral patch for several minutes while being cleaned by cleaner fish.](/Images/godic/202501/05/Manta_alfredi_at_a_‘cleaning_station’_-_journal.pone.0046170.g002B0552.png")
![A rockmover wrasse Novaculichthys taeniourus being cleaned by Hawaiian cleaner wrasses, Labroides phthirophagus on a reef in Hawaii. Some manini and a filefish wait their turn.](/Images/godic/202501/05/Cleaning_station0552.JPG")
![](/Images/godic/202501/05/Cleaning_station_parot0552.jpg")
![](/Images/godic/202501/05/Naso_lituratus_Novaculichthys_taeniourus_and_Labroides_phthirophagus0552.jpg")
A cleaning station is a location where fish, sea turtles, hippos and other aquatic life, freshwater and marine, congregate to be cleaned.
The cleaning process includes the removal of parasites from the animal's body (both externally and internally), and can be performed by various creatures (including cleaner shrimp and numerous species of cleaner fish, especially wrasses and gobies (Elacatinus spp.)).