Spearfish Remora, Remora brachyptera (Lowe 1839)

A Spearfish Remora, Remora brachyptera, from Mexico. Source: John Snow / Shorefishes of the tropical eastern Pacific online information system. www.stri.org/sftep. License: CC BY Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike

Summary:

The Spearfish Remora commonly hitches a ride on sharks, especially Blue Sharks. It also attaches itself in the gill chambers of billfishes and swordfish.

Body uniform whitish to pale pinkish or bluish in colour; head disc short, with 14-17 lamellae or transverse plates, not reaching beyond the middle of the pectoral fin. Dorsal and anal fins longer than head length, set far back on body; rear edge of the caudal fin straight.

Cite this page as:

Dianne J. Bray, Remora brachyptera in Fishes of Australia, accessed 25 Jan 2025, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/Home/species/4249

Spearfish Remora, Remora brachyptera (Lowe 1839)

More Info

Distribution	Common and widespread, mostly in tropical and subtropical seas, and found throughout Australia. The Spearfish Remora usually hitches a ride attached to sharks, or in the gill chambers of billfishes and swordfishes. Like their hosts, the remora is epipelagic from surface waters to depths of 200 metres.
Features	Meristic features: Dorsal-fin rays: 27-34 Anal-fin rays: 25-34 Cephalic sucking disc: 14-17 transverse lamellae Gill rakers: Fewer than 21 (first arch)
Conservation	IUCN: Least Concern Australia; Not listed
Similar Species	Most often confused with Remora albescens which has a longer disc reaching the pectoral-fin tips, and the head longer than the length of the dorsal-fin base.
Species Citation	Echeneis brachyptera Lowe, 1839, Proc. Zool. Soc. London 7: 89. Type locality: Madeira.
Author	Dianne J. Bray

Spearfish Remora, Remora brachyptera (Lowe 1839)

References

Collette, B.B. 1999. Family Echeneidae. pp. 2652-2654 in Carpenter, K.E. & Niem, T.H. (eds). The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fisheries Purposes. Rome : FAO Vol. 4 2069-2790 pp.

Collette, B.B. 2000. Echeneidae (remoras and sharksuckers). Raffles Bulletin of Zoology: 615.

Gomon, M.F. 2008. Family Echeneidae. In: Fishes of Australia's Southern Coast. Sydney : Reed New Holland 928 pp.

Gray, K.N., McDowell, J.R., Collette, B.B. & Graves, J.E. 2009. A molecular phylogeny of the remoras and their relatives.Bulletin of Marine Science 84(2): 183-198.

Lowe, R.T. 1839. A supplement to a synopsis of the fishes of Madeira. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 7: 76-92.

Morota, A. & K. Fujita. 1995. Interrelationships of echeneids and their hosts, and the reproductive habits of Remora osteochir in Hawaiian waters. Gyoruigaku Zasshi 42(2): 203-207.

O'Toole, B. 2002. Phylogeny of the species of the superfamily Echeneoidea (Perciformes: Carangoidei: Echeneidae, Rachycentridae, and Coryphaenidae), with an interpretation of echeneid hitchhiking behaviour. Canadian Journal of Zoology 80(4): 596-623.

Paulin, C. & Habib, G. 1982. Remoras (Pisces: Echeneidae) from New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Zoology 9(1): 33-36.

Russell, B.C. & W. Houston. 1989. Offshore fishes of the Arafura Sea. The Beagle 6(1): 69-84.