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Live sharksucker
Conservation status
	; Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Carangiformes
Family:	Echeneidae
Genus:	Echeneis
Species:	E. naucrates
Binomial name
	Echeneis naucrates; Linnaeus, 1758
Synonyms
	Leptecheneis naucrates (Linnaeus, 1758); Echeneis lunata Bancroft, 1831; Echeneis vittata Rüppell, 1838; Echeneis fasciata Gronow, 1854; Echeneis fusca Gronow, 1854; Echeneis chiromacer Duméril, 1858; Echeneis scaphecrates Duméril, 1858; Echeneis guaican Poey, 1860; Echeneis metallica Poey, 1860; Leptecheneis flaviventris Seale, 1906;

The live sharksucker or slender sharksucker (Echeneis naucrates) is a species of marine fish in the family Echeneidae, the remoras.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]

Distribution and habitat

The species is considered circumtropical, as it occurs in all tropical and warm temperate waters around the world except for the eastern Pacific.^[1]^[2] The species can be found close to the coast, as well as offshore at a maximum depth of 50 m (160 ft).^[7]^[8]

Sharksuckers are known to temporarily attach themselves to various objects or hosts by using their modified dorsal fins. Hosts include sharks, rays, large bony fishes, sea turtles, whales, dolphins, ships, and even scuba divers.^[2]

Description

E. naucrates is a medium-sized fish which can grow up to 110 cm (43 in) length.^[9] Its body is elongated and streamlined, and its lower jaw is clearly prognathic (it projects forward well beyond the upper jaw).^[3] The jaws, vomer and tongue have villiform teeth.^[3] The main distinctive feature to distinguish from other fishes is the oval-shaped sucking disc, which is a highly modified dorsal fin positioned from the top of the head to the anterior part of the body.^[3]

The body background colouration is dark grey to dark brown, with a dark belly. A longitudinal stripe runs along the axis side of the body, it is always darker than its background colour with a whitish margin. The caudal fin is black with white corners.

Diet

The remora's diet varies according to its maturity or situation (with host or not).^{[citation needed]}

As a juvenile, it sometimes acts as a cleaner fish on a reef station; its diet consists of small parasitic crustaceans such as copepods, isopods, and ostracods.^[10]

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, squid, and small fish.^[11]

References

^ ^a ^b Collette, B.B.; Curtis, M.; Williams, J.T.; Smith-Vaniz, W.F. & Pina Amargos, F (2017) [errata version of 2015 assessment]. "Echeneis naucrates". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2015: e.T190393A115317934. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T190393A15603110.en. Retrieved 21 November 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Echeneis naucrates". FishBase. August 2019 version.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Slender Suckerfish, Echeneis naucrates (Linnaeus, 1758) - Australian Museum". australianmuseum.net.au.
^ Slender Suckerfish, Echeneis naucrates (Linnaeus, 1758). australianmuseum.net.au
^ Sharksucker. flmnh.ufl.edu
^ "FLMNH Ichthyology Department: Sharksucker". ufl.edu. 2017-05-09.
^ Cervigón, F., R. Cipriani, W. Fischer, L. Garibaldi, M. Hendrickx, A.J. Lemus, R. Márquez, J.M. Poutiers, G. Robaina and B. Rodriguez, 1992. Fichas FAO de identificación de especies para los fines de la pesca. Guía de campo de las especies comerciales marinas y de aquas salobres de la costa septentrional de Sur América. FAO, Rome.
^ al Sakaff, H.; M. Esseen (1999). "Occurrence and distribution of fish species off Yemen (Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea)" (PDF). Naga ICLARM Q. 22 (1): 43–47. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-11-29. Retrieved 2016-11-18.
^ Lieske, E. and R. Myers (1994). Collins Pocket Guide. Coral reef fishes. Indo-Pacific & Caribbean including the Red Sea. Harper Collins Publishers.
^ Sazima, I.; R.L. Moura & M.C.M. Rodrigues (1999). "Juvenile sharksucker, Echeneis naucrates (Echeneidae), acting as a station-based cleaner fish". Cybium. 23 (4): 377–380.
^ ^a ^b security. "DORIS - FFESSM - Biologie et plongée - Faune et flore sous-marines et dulcicoles". ffessm.fr.