What is special about the remora fish?

What is special about the remora fish?

The remora is a small fish that usually measures between one and three feet long. Their front dorsal fins evolved over time into an organ that sits like a suction cup on the top of their heads. Remoras eat scraps of prey dropped by the shark. They also feed off of parasites on the shark’s skin and in its mouth.

Can remoras live without sharks?

Sharks have been observed slowing down in the water, even risking their own survival, in order to allow remoras to attach themselves. However, this is not true of all shark species. Sandbar and lemon sharks have been documented acting aggressively and even consuming possibly beneficial remoras.

Do remora have predators?

Depending on the species, remora can travel attached to the body of sharks, rays, swordfishes, marlins, sea turtles or large marine mammals such as dugongs and whales.

How do remora reproduce?

Reproduction of the Remora They have spotted adult pairs on the same host, but do not know anything about the specific breeding behaviors of the fish. However, they do reproduce via spawning, where the female releases her eggs and the male fertilizes them outside of the body.

Do remoras hurt?

Remoras are also known as suckerfish or shark-suckers as they are commonly found attached to the bottom of sharks hitching a ride across the oceans. While not known to hurt or injure divers, they can be annoying at times especially large remoras as their suction can be rather powerful.

Are remoras harmful?

Remoras are large, gray, parasitic fish usually found stuck to the sides of sharks, manta rays, and other large species. Remoras are not dangerous to their hosts. Remoras have been known to attach to a diver’s tank or body. As long as the diver is covered by a wetsuit, the remora does no harm.

Where do sharks and remoras live?

The Remora is a pelagic marine fish that is usually found in the warmer parts of most oceans clinging on to large sharks, sea turtles, bony fishes and other marine mammals (Marshall 1965).

Do remoras harm sharks?

If you’ve ever watched documentaries on sharks or have watched them out in the water, you’ve probably noticed their smaller companions, remora fish. Yet their hitching on to a shark causes no harm to the shark itself.

Do remoras breathe air?

Remoras, like many other fishes, have two different modes of ventilation. Ram ventilation is the process in which at higher speeds, the remora uses the force of the water moving past it to create movement of fluid in the gills.

What parasites do remora eat?

According to Kenaley, stomach contents from the latter show they’re mainly eating the parasitic copepods (small crustaceans) that also attach to their hosts. This would suggest that far from just mooching a ride, the remora is doing its host a service by hoovering up parasites. But not so fast, says Kenaley.

Do sharks benefit from remoras?

The remoras swim very close to the sharks, feeding off scraps of food dropped by the shark and also gaining some protection from predators. The remora removes parasites from the shark’s skin and even inside the mouth, which benefits the shark.

Do remoras hurt turtles?

In this type of symbiotic relationship, one organism benefits, the other is neither harmed nor helped. The most obvious hitchhikers catching a ride on a turtles shell are so called remoras.

What kind of fin does a remora have?

The dorsal fin, which has 22 to 26 soft rays, acts as a suction cup, creating a vacuum to allow it to attach to larger marine animals, such as whales, dolphins, sharks, and sea turtles. The common remora has a suckerlike dorsal fin and an anal fin. Its body can be brown, black or grey in color.

What kind of teeth does a remora have?

Remora has oval sucking disk on top of the head that consists of numerous paired, crosswise oriented plates. Sucking disk is actually modified dorsal fin. Remora has numerous small, pointed teeth that are slightly curved inward.

How big does an adult Remora fish get?

The rest of its body has an elongated shape. Most individuals of this species measure about 18 in. long, but large individuals can reach 2 ft. long or more. Adults weigh up to 2 lbs. This fish has a number of unique traits and adaptations.

How are remoras adapted to swim on their own?

Remoras sometimes attach to small boats, and have been observed attaching to divers as well. They swim well on their own, with a sinuous, or curved, motion. Remora front dorsal fins have evolved to enable them to adhere by suction to smooth surfaces and they spend their lives clinging to a host animal such as a whale, turtle, shark or ray.