The live sharksucker or slender sharksucker (Echeneis naucrates) is a species of marine fish in the family Echeneidae, the remoras.

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.

·        The species can be found close to the coast, as well as offshore at a maximum depth of 50 m (160 ft).

·        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.

DESCRIPTION

·        E. naucrates is a medium-sized fish which can grow up to 110 cm (43 in) length.

·        Its body is elongated and streamlined, and its lower jaw is clearly prognathic (it projects forward well beyond the upper jaw).

·        The jaws, vomer and tongue have villiform teeth.

·        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.

·        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.

COLORATION

·        The long slim body of the sharksucker is dark gray or dark brownish gray with a dark belly.

·        There is a broad darker brown or dark gray stripe with white edges on each side that extends from the jaw to the base of the caudal fin with interruptions from the eyes and pectoral fins.

·        The pectoral fins and ventral fins are black with or without a pale edge while the dorsal and anal fins are dark gray or black with white margins. The caudal fin is black with distinct white corners.

DENTITION

·        The jaws of this sharksucker contain a vomer and numerous pointed villiform teeth.

DIET

·        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.

·        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.

·        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.

REPRODUCTION

·        Spawning occurs during the spring and summer months throughout most of its range and during the autumn months in the Mediterranean Sea.

·        The eggs are fertilized externally followed by enclosure of a hard shell, which protects them from damage and desiccation.

·        These pelagic eggs are large and spherical in shape.

·        When the embryos hatch, each measures 0.18-0.30 inches (.47-.75 cm) in length.

·        These young fish have a large yolk sac, non-pigmented eyes, and an incompletely developed body. During development of the newly hatched fish, the sucking disc begins to form. Small teeth appear on the upper jaw and large teeth on the lower jaw during this period.

·        Immature sharksuckers live freely for about one year until reaching approximately 1.2 inches (3 cm) in length at which time they attack to a host fish.