Remora australis  (Bennett, 1840)

Whalesucker
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Remora australis   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Remora australis (Whalesucker)
Remora australis
Picture by Sazima, I.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) > Perciformes (Perch-likes) > Echeneidae (Remoras)
Etymology: Remora: Latin, remora = delay, hindrance (1567) (Ref. 45335).

Environment / Climate / Range Ecology

Marine; pelagic-oceanic; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243).   Subtropical

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 76.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 2850)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 25 - 27; Dorsal soft rays (total): 20-23; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 20 - 24. Dark blue to slate grey; fins with narrow white edge (Ref. 4389).

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Introductions | Faunafri

Worldwide in tropical and warm waters. Western Atlantic: Texas, USA to Brazil. Eastern Pacific: Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada to Chile (Ref. 2850).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Oceanic, mostly in warm seas. Attaches itself only to whales and porpoises (Ref. 7251). One adult couple was recorded attached to the same individual spinner dolphin for a period of about 3 months (Ref. 50801). A common associate of spinner dolphins at Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, southeast Atlantic, where it occurs year-round. Recorded feeding on spinner dolphins’ feces and vomits (Ref. 48727).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Paxton, J.R., D.F. Hoese, G.R. Allen and J.E. Hanley, 1989. Pisces. Petromyzontidae to Carangidae. Zoological Catalogue of Australia, Vol. 7. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 665 p.

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 90363)

  Not Evaluated 

Threat to humans

  Harmless




Human uses

FAO(Publication : search) | FisheriesWiki | Sea Around Us

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Internet sources

BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | DiscoverLife | Faunafri | Fishtrace | GenBank(genome, nucleotide) | GOBASE | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | iSpecies | National databases | PubMed | Scirus | SeaLifeBase | Tree of Life | uBio | Wikipedia(Go, Search) | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates of some properties based on empirical models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805):  PD50 = 0.5352   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00102 (-0.17398 - 0.17602), b=3.06 (2.97 - 3.15), based on all LWR estimates for this BS (Ref. 93245).
Trophic Level (Ref. 69278):  3.3   ±0.5 se; Based on size and trophs of closest relatives
Resilience (Ref. 69278):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (Assuming Fec < 10,000).
Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Moderate to high vulnerability (45 of 100) .
Price category (Ref. 80766):   High.