Slender Remora

Slender Remora

Echeneis naucrates
Slender Remora

Family, Genus, Class & Etymology

Family    Echeneidae
Description    Remoras
Environment    Marine
Etymology    Greek, echein = to hold + Greek, nays = ship; 1594. From it suppossed power for stopping ships
Genus    3
No. of Species    8
Order    Perciformes
Class    Actinopterygii
Reproductive Guild    Nonguarders
Distribution    Atlantic, Indian and Pacific. Elongate body, with the head flattened and bearing a sucking disc having 10-28 transverse movable lamina (disc said to have evolved from a spinous dorsal fin). Mandible jutted. Scales small and cycloid. Spines absent in dorsal and anal fins. About 18-40 soft rays each in dorsal and anal fins. No swim bladder. Branchiostegal rays 8-11. With the sucking disc, the remora hitches to larger animals such as sharks, bony fishes, turtles or mammals. Some species reportedly show considerable host specificity. They act as cleaners on their hosts and also feed on 'leftovers'. Assumed to be pelagic spawners (RF). About 1 m maximum length (reported for Echeines naucrates); the smallest species measuring 17 cm.