Scientists say fish on coral reefs live in their own capitalist, free market economies.
Those which survive by providing a valet service for their neighbours risk losing customers if they do a bad job.
Studies found client fish were less likely to visit 'cleaners' who had previously cheated them or forced them to queue.
Fish visit cleaners to have parasites nibbled from their bodies, but some cleaners cheat by pinching flakes of skin.
However the clients manage to keep an overall good quality of service by exercising consumer choice and voting with their fins.
The research was carried out by Redouan Bshary, of the University of Cambridge, and Daniel Schaffer, of the Max Planck Institute for Behavioural Physiology in Germany.
They looked at client fish, like the long-nosed parrotfish, and cleaner fish, like the wrasse, on the reefs of Ras Muhammad on the Red Sea coast of Egypt.
The study is published in the journal Animal Behaviour and reported by New Scientist.
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