Hawksbill sea turtle with a group of blue tangs (Acanthurus coeruleus) in a cleaning station. Sea turtles allow these fishes to feed on epibionts on their shell.

Different species of algae, and a large variety of sessile and vagile animals may be found fixed on sea turtle´s shell and soft tissues. To get rid of these organisms, sea turtles allow tropical fishes to feed on the epibionts, in a mutually beneficial association, called “cleaning symbiosis”.