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| On whale shark, Rhincodon typus. Galapagos Islands. |
on mobula rays, Mobula sp. Isla del Coco, Costa Rica. |
On manta ray, Manta birostris, Revilligigedos Islands, Mexico. |
| The dorsal fin of the remora has adapted into a sucker-like organ which allows the remora to attach to larger animals (rays, sharks, turtles) for transportation. The remora obtains small bits of food missed by its host, and also eats small bits of skin and parasites on the host. These photographs were taken in the Galapagos, Cocos and Revilligigedos islands. |
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| On flanks of a blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus, Baja California, Mexico. |
| Concerning identification: The remora pictured above on the manta ray is likely Remorina albescens. Seven species of remora (including Remora remora) have been recorded from the Revilligigedo Islands alone. A recent book, Fishes of the Galapagos Islands (Grove & Lavenberg, Stanford University Press, 1997) describes and illustrates all seven species with photographs (pages 352--356), but identifications depend in part on relative size of the sucker disc and the number of fin rays. Additionally, the remora photographs in Fishes of the Galapagos Islands are all of preserved specimens, which are typically warped, wrinkled, and discoloured. Another book which might help identify remoras is Field Guide to Pacific Coast Fishes (Eschmeyer, Herald, & Hammann, Peterson Field Guide series, Houghton Mifflin, 1983), which describes all seven species (pages 203-205, but only three species are illustrated). (Rick Martin, pers. comm., Dec 1998) |
| Keywords: remora photos, remora remora, remorina albescens, suckerfish, fish, fishes, ocean, photography, photograph, underwater, wildlife, ocean, marine, teleost, bony fish, temperate, tropical |
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