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A cleaner wrasse grazes on the face of a grouper fish. The wrasse gets a free meal, and the grouper gets a free bath. 8

Many other strange creatures live on the reef.

Giant clams are shellfish with a shell so big that a baby could take a bath in it. Clams are filter feeders,

which means that they catch small plankton as they take in mouthfuls of water. Then they spit out the water and swallow their food.

7 One reef may be

8 The boxer crab carries a small anemone in each pincer. These “boxing gloves” pack a stinging punch!

home to as many as 350 different corals. The amazing shapes they form provide millions of hidey holes for the other reef creatures.

SIDEBAR

A TRIP TO THE BARBER Small fish called cleaner wrasse seem to like danger. They swim right into the mouths of fierce hunting fish such as groupers and moray eels. They do this because that’s where the tiny creatures they eat live! Wrasse clean fish’s scales and even “brush” their teeth. Cleaner wrasse are also called barber fish. Medium: 5,88,0,0 Dark: 19,100,0,12

RecommendedText Box CMYK Colors: Light: 4,58,0,0

9.