DOCTOR FISH

doctor fish: translation

1) any of a series of unrelated fish species that are supposedly helpful to other fishes, e.g. tench (Tinca tinca, Cyprinidae) slime is said to cure wounds; Garra rufa and Cyprinion macrostomum (Cyprinidae) in Turkish hot springs in the Kangal area clean dead skin fragments from humans with psoriasis; the circumpolar Gymnelus viridis or fish doctor may be a cleaner fish but the reason for its name is unknown

2) Acanthurus chirurgus, a member of the family Acanthuridae which is named for an extensible spine on each side of the caudal peduncle, resembling a scalpel in its sharpness.The spine is used in defence against predators and in dominance fights with members of its own species