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The marlin sucker or spear-fish remora (Remora osteochir) is a species of remora found all over the world in tropical and temperate seas. It can reach up to 40 cm (16 in) in standard length . It normally lives attached to a larger fish; its host preference is for marlins (as the name implies) and sailfishes , but it will attach to other large fish.
The sucking disc begins to show when the young fish are about 1 cm (0.4 in) long. When the remora reaches about 3 cm (1.2 in), the disc is fully formed and the remora can then attach to other animals. The remora's lower jaw projects beyond the upper, and the animal lacks a swim bladder. [9] Some remoras associate with specific host species.
Unlike some other remora species, parasitic copepods comprise a negligible part of the diet of the white suckerfish, suggesting it may not have a mutualistic relationship with its host. [6] The white suckerfish responds to a touch on its belly by forcefully erecting its pelvic fins, possibly an adaptation to avoid crushing by its host. [5]
The whitefin sharksucker [1] (Echeneis neucratoides) or short-disk sharksucker, is a species of remora native to subtropical waters of the western Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea. This fish can reach a length of 75 centimetres (30 in) TL though most fish do not exceed 50 centimetres (20 in) TL.
One of the whalesucker's most outstanding traits, shared among the Echeinedae family, is an adhesive disk. The adhesive disk is a round, oval, sucking disk located on the top of a remora's head, with two layers of lamellae that allow for the remora to stick and unstick to the epidermal surfaces of larger fish, mainly cetaceans.
The common remora (Remora remora) is a pelagic marine fish [3] belonging to the family Echeneidae. The dorsal fin, which has 22 to 26 soft rays, acts as a suction cup , creating a vacuum [ 4 ] to allow the fish to attach to larger marine animals, such as whales, dolphins, sharks, and sea turtles.
The spearfish remora attaches itself with its disc to a host fish, with juveniles often attaching in the gill chambers. [1] Host fish include the sailfish, the white marlin, the black marlin, the striped marlin and the swordfish; all these fish swim faster than does the remora, and it is not clear how the remora attaches to the host in the first place. [5]
When attached to a host, the remora eats parasitic crustaceans, food scraps from its host's feeding activity, and even some small food captured by filtering water through its villiform teeth. [ 11 ] Without a host, the fish stays close to the shore and can aggregate with other individuals; its diet is then composed of free-living crustaceans ...