hippos having fish clean their bodies?

Question

I was reading an article about Mzima Springs in Kenya where they talked about hippos and their behavior. I came upon a confusing fact about hippos that I seem to be having trouble finding more information about it: "A hippo calf allows the vigorous attentions of a Labeo, a member of the carp family. Abundant in Mzima, Labeo use their wide mouths to scrape algae, parasites, and dead skin from hippos’ hides. To solicit these welcome cleanings, hippos go to certain areas of the springs where the fish congregate and adopt a cleaning stance, stretching out their limbs to open the creases in their skin. Other fish specialize in cleaning different parts of the hippos’ bodies. Barbus, for example, cleans the cracks in the soles of the feet, and tiny Garra grazes inside wounds." So, is it true that hippos actually use certain types of fish to clean their bodies? Also, please take this question seriously.

I forgot to mention. Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom did a program to compare hippos with crocodiles. They didn't mention anything at all about how hippos have fish clean their bodies. Why would they forget to mention that?

Answer 1

That's what this article says here. It lists a source of the information in the article you can click on for further information. Red-billed oxpeckers will also perform this service. Fish will also feed on hippo dung. Hippos primarily eat grass and aquatic vegetation which is not easily broken down in its stomach so not all of the vegetation is digested.

Have a quick quote from second source regarding what purple labeo eats:

"Grazes algae and `aufwuchs' from rocks and firm surfaces including the backs of hippos..."

So they are providing a cleaning service though it does not appear many parasites are eaten off their skin, though not sure what an aufwuch is, need to research that. It seems algae is eaten by the purple labeo.

Found information on those aufwuchs. It says:

"The plants and animals adhering to parts of rooted aquatic plants and other open surfaces, also organisms and detritus coating rocks and plants in an aquatic environment often fed on by fish specialised as scrapers."

So the labeo will eat those and the algae and the aufwuchs are also eating the algae. Thought that could be relevant.

Did research on barbus which are also called barbels and it seems plausible since some species of them inhabit the Nile and are in Africa. The Garra I still need to research.

Well, "Nature," the title of a program by PBS I believe, did one called "Hippo Beach." You can find it by doing a search for Nature, I could look for it and link it up. They did not mention the fish that clean the algae and organisms feeding on the algae, or the red-billed oxpecker removing ticks or other parasites. Found the link but not 100% sure it will work:

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/hippo/

Answer 2

I've never heard of hippopotamuses doing this, but I don't find it at all surprising. Fish cleaning other fish is a well-known phenomenon in the ocean, where some fish have been seen almost waiting in line to be cleaned by a small fish known as the cleaner wrasse. A few other species of fish and possibly shrimp also clean other fish this way. It makes sense that hippopotamuses could have the same sort of biological relationship with certain freshwater fish.