Photo: NOAA Photo Library · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Description
- 📏 up to 1 m
- 🌊 coastal and open waters, attached to sharks and rays
The live sharksucker carries on its head an oval sucker (a modified dorsal fin) that lets it attach to large marine animals: sharks, rays, turtles, whales. It benefits from their travels and from the scraps of their meals.
Did you know?
Its scientific name comes from ancient Greek: « echeneis » means « ship-holder ». The ancients believed it could stop a ship by clinging to its hull.
Source: Greek etymology (Pliny the Elder)
Tahitian names: TAXREF (INPN/MNHN) – Society Islands. French name: Rémora.
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