Spearfish Remora, Remora brachptera

Spearfish Remora, Remora brachyptera, White Morph. Fish provided by a Striped Marlin caught from coastal waters off Point Palmilla, January 2007. Length: 15 cm (5.9 inches). White coloration is atypical. Fish identification courtesy of H.J. Walker, Jr., Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California.

The Spearfish Remora, Remora brachptera, is a member of the Remora or Echeneidae Family, and is known in Mexico as rémora robusta or simply pega pega. Globally, there are five species in the genus Remora, and all five are found in Mexican waters of both the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans.

The Spearfish Remora has an elongated robust body that are a uniform brown color. Their head has a convex lower and flat upper profile with big black eyes and a short disc that is 31% to 33% of standard length and reaches the middle of the pectoral fins and their disk has 14 to 17 lamellae. Their lower jaw is projecting and their mouth has numerous small pointed teeth. Their anal and dorsal fin bases are of similar size and shape with the dorsal fin being before the anal fin, and are significantly longer than the head but less than two times the head length; their caudal fin is either concave or “W” shaped in larger fish; their pectoral fins are broad and blunt; and, their pelvic fins are joined to the belly. They have 14 to 17 gill rakers.

The Spearfish Remora is an oceanic pelagic fish that travel attached to their hosts (normally a Spearfish) and are found at depths up to 200 m (650 feet). They reach a maximum of 50 cm (20 inches) in length. The Spearfish Remora is poorly studied and very  little is known about their behavioral patterns as they require fast moving water for survival, making study in captivity impossible.

The Spearfish Remora is found in all Mexican waters the Pacific Ocean with the exception that they are absent from the northern portions of the Sea of Cortez. They are more common in southern Mexican waters.

The Spearfish Remora is an easy fish to identify due to its lamellae count and the length of its pectoral fins. It is, however, somewhat similar to the Remora, Remora remora (concave tail; anal fin over dorsal fin), and the White Suckerfish, Remora albescens (pectoral fins reach end of disc).

From a conservation perspective the Spearfish Remora is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are seldom seen by humans and too unappealing to be of interest to most. They are most definitely a “catch-and-release”.