Sharksucker, Echeneis naucrates

Sharksucker, Echeneis naucrates. Photograph of a live fish being sold by the aquarium trade in Orange County, California, March 2017. Length: 18.0 cm (7.1 inches). “Catch”, photograph, and identification courtesy of Chris Wheaton, Fullerton, California.

Sharksucker, Echeneis naucrates. Fish caught off the Deerfield Beach Pier, Deerfield Beach, Florida, November 2023. Length: 16.5 cm (6.5 inches). Catch, photograph, and identification courtesy of Chris Moore, Peoria, Arizona.

Sharksucker, Echeneis naucrates. Fish caught from coastal waters off Deerfield Beach, Florida, December 2020. Length: 53 cm (21 inches). Fish caught free swimming near the bottom without a host. Catch, photographs and identification courtesy of Ben Cantrell, San Diego, California.

Sharksucker, Echeneis naucrates. Fish caught from coastal waters off Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, May 2021. Length: 55 cm (22 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Luke Ovgard, Klamath Falls, Oregon.

The Sharksucker, Echeneis naucrates, is a member in the Remora or Echeneidae Family, that is also known as the Live Sharksucker and the Slender Sharksucker and in Mexico as rémora rayada and simply pega pega. Globally, there are two species in the genus Echeneis, both of which are found in Mexican waters, including the fish described here that is found in both the Atlantic and the Pacific and another fish found only in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Sharksucker has an elongated slim body that are 11 to 12 times longer than deep. They are dark gray to dark brown with a dark belly. They have a broad dark brown stripe with white edges on each side that extends from their jaw to the base of their caudal fin. Their anal and dorsal fins are dark with white margins; their caudal fin is black with distinct white corners; and, their pectoral and pelvic fins are black with or without white margins. Their lower jaw is prognathic, projecting well beyond the upper jaw. Their anal fin has 29 to 41 rays and their dorsal fin has 32 to 42 rays with both fins originating mid-body and have elevated initial rays that taper to the base of the caudal fin; their caudal fin is truncate with the upper and lower lobes being longer than the middle rays; and, their pectoral fins are located high on the sides with the upper margins overlapping the edge of the disc. Males cannot easily be differentiated from females. Their head has a convex lower profile and a flat upper profile with mid-sized black eyes. They have a modest-sized disc that is 23% to 28% of standard length, has 16 to 28 lamellae, and reaches the middle of the pectoral fin. Their mouth is equipped with vomer and villiform teeth.

The Sharksucker is a circumtropical species found in all global tropical and warm waters at depths up to 46 m (150 feet). They are the most abundant remora. They reach a maximum of 1.10 m (3 feet 7 inches) in length and 5.4 kg (11.9 lbs) in weight. As of January 1, 2024, the International Game Fish Association world record stood at 5.38 kg (11 lbs 14 oz) with the fish caught in coastal waters off Molasses Reef, Florida in August 2001. When free swimming, they are found inshore in schools around coral reefs and offshore attached to dolphins, fish, rays, sharks, sea turtles, whales, and sometimes ships or human divers. They are poor swimmers without a swim bladder and are dependent on their hosts for survival. They are opportunistic feeders consuming parasitic crustaceans off their hosts and leftovers from their hosts’ dining. When free swimming they consume crustaceans, fish, and squid. Juveniles act as cleaner fish for larger Parrotfish. Reproduction is oviparous with external fertilization and the release of large spherical pelagic eggs enclosed in a hard case. Juvenile Sharksuckers live freely for the first year until they reach 3.0 cm (1.2 inches) in length and then attach themselves to a host.

The Sharksucker is a resident of all Mexican waters of the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans with the exception that they in the Pacific they are absent from the Sea of Cortez.

The Sharksucker is easy to identify due to the stripes along its flank. It is somewhat similar to the Whitefin Sharksucker, Echeneis neucratoides from the Atlantic (caudal fin with much wider white fin margins).

From a conservation perspective the Sharksucker is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. In some Southeast Asian cultures they are used by artisanal fishermen to catch large fish and sea turtles: this is done by affixing a line around the Sharksucker’s tail, allowing it to attach to a host, then hauling both species in. They are also caught with drift nets and trawls. They are used for human consumption on a limited basis and can be found in Southeast Asian fish markets. They are also a small component of the aquarium trade.