Fishes With Sharks on Their Minds

From the earliest of times, sharks seem to be the big things on the minds of those associated with the sea. Some even go to the point of wanting to get as close as possible to the biggest and meanest of sharks that they possibly can. They just seem to be wild about sharks. They'd hug onto sharks if they could. Why, as long as it's a shark - or even something resembling it - they can be truly called suckers for sharks . . . or sharksuckers.

The most famous of sharksuckers, however, can also be considered to be real drags for the sharks. While it's hard to actually say how sharks feel about divers - and some of them may qualify as being suckers for sharks - the popular common name for one type of true sharksuckers, remora, literally means "a drag." The remora (with its scientific name of Remora remora - is there a pattern here?) is often associated with large sharks in all tropical and subtropical seas, including those of California, from San Francisco south. It can attach itself to a shark's sleek body, and hence, may cause a slight dragging.

While a fish sticking itself onto a shark may sound like a dumb thing to try to do, a sharksucker that does so is actually using its head.

On the top of its head and just above the eyes of the remora and the other six species of California sharksuckers in the family Echeneididae, there is a flat oval disk with which they can attach themselves to sharks, rays, other fishes, turtles, or whales. Or, for that matter, onto boats, driftwood, or even divers. So effective is its sucking disk that it is almost impossible to make a remora involuntarily break its hold. By this freeloading method of travel, these 1-1/2 to 3-foot long fishes may end up far from their normal ranges, for wherever their big buddy goes, they do too, even into some pretty cold water.

Yet these so-called suckerfishes are not necessarily all suckers that will attach themselves to just any large moving object. Some are actually quite discriminating in their tastes. The gray marlinsucker (R. brachyptera) only hangs onto marlins and swordfishes, and the hardfin marlinsucker (Rhombochirus osteochis) has a fairly similar choice in companions, but will also branch out to include wahoo. The white suckerfish (Remorina albescens) prefers the company of manta rays, while the whalesucker (Remilega australis) only associates with cetaceans - although any type, from blue whale to dolphin will do.

These free riding suckerfishes are not just freeloaders. They are more like live-in, or live-on, "housekeepers" that by being along for the ride are always there to serve their hosts. For example, if a shark has a sharksucker (Echeneis naucrates) attached to it at mealtime, the sucker will be right there to clean up those messy leftovers and scraps. Not that it HAS to perform such a lowly service, for this fish is quite capable of finding food on its own. But it just seems to like being with sharks.

The remora and certain relatives like being with sharks so much that they will serve as cleaners, as well as cleanup crew for their host. They will eat parasitic copepods that grow on sharks' skin. These parasites must be quite a real drag to the well-being of their host than the sharksuckers with names that mean a drag.

These wonderful wanderings are so fantastic in their ways and have camaraderie with some of the most notorious of predators, so it is not surprising that there are lots of stories and legends associated with them throughout their worldwide range. Some of the tales, like using them to catch turtles, are rather quaint. Others, like a single remora's ability to stop a ship or cause it to go off course, show a more ominous sentiment toward these fishes.

For divers, though, who seem to have sharks on their minds almost as much as sharksuckers do, these small fishes can be a real inspiration. It certainly shows that if someone wants to really go somewhere in this world without much effort on his own part, all that one has to do is choose the right company . . . but especially, use one's head and stick to it!

Drawing by Nancy Vander Velde