The Parasitic Copepod Diet and Life History of Diskfishes (Echeneidae)

Abstract

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Remora attachment is enhanced by spinule friction

“…It has been suggested that attaching to mobile hosts benefits the remoras by reducing metabolic demands for swimming (Muir and Buckley, 1967), offering opportunistic feeding (Strasburg, 1962) or increasing the chance of finding mates (Silva and Sazima, 2003). Remoras have been known to strongly attach to sharks (Ritter, 2002;Ritter and Brunnschweiler, 2003), rays (Williams et al, 2003), other pelagic fish (Williams et al, 2003), sea turtles (Sazima and Grossman, 2006), dolphins (Weihs et al, 2007), divers (Silva and Sazima, 2003), buoys (Cressey and Lachner, 1970), ship hulls (Cressey and Lachner, 1970) and concrete (Strasburg, 1962). This variety of hosts moves at many different speeds and have body surfaces that span a broad spectrum of geometries and topologies (Stote et al, 2014).…”

Whalesuckers and a spinner dolphin bonded for weeks: does host fidelity pay off?

“…Remoras or diskfishes (Echeneidae) attach to several types of marine vertebrates, from sharks to cetaceans (Cressey and Lachner, 1970;Fertl and Landry, 1999). Remoras may benefit from this association in several ways, such as ride, feeding, and protection from predators (Strasburg, 1959;Cressey and Lachner, 1970;Alling, 1985;Katona & Whitehead, 1988).…”

“…Remoras may benefit from this association in several ways, such as ride, feeding, and protection from predators (Strasburg, 1959;Cressey and Lachner, 1970;Alling, 1985;Katona & Whitehead, 1988). Whereas some diskfish species attach to a broad array of hosts, other species are prone to attach to particular host types.…”

Dynamics of the aerial maneuvers of spinner dolphins

“…Jumping by blacktip sharks Carcharhinus limbatus has been proposed as a means of dislodging attached echeneid sharksuckers Echeneis naucrates (Ritter, 2002;Ritter and Brunschweiler, 2003). Remoras are considered hydrodynamic parasites as they potentially disrupt the flow over the dolphin's body and add to the drag, although remoras can be beneficial in clearing parasites (Cressey and Lachner, 1970;Moyle and Cech, 1988;O'Toole, 2002). The sucking disc of remoras is a modified dorsal fin with slat-like transverse ridges, which are modified spines (Moyle and Cech, 1988).…”