 Cleaner fish maintain a balance between eating ectoparasites and mucus or tissue because of the respective nutritional benefits, sometimes despite the risk to the client.For example, the Caribbean cleaning goby ("Elacatinus evelynae") will eat scales and mucus from the host during times of ectoparasite scarcity to supplement its diet.The symbiosis relationship between client and host does not break down because the abundance of these parasites varies significantly seasonally and spatially, and the overall benefit to the larger fish outweighs any cheating on by the smaller cleaner.