sailfish gill parasitical fishes
Submitted by ranmar850 on Thu, 2015-07-23 20:19
No pictures for this, but i was swimminmg a sail alonside when I noticed a white tail hanging out from his gill plate. Pulled on it, and a pure white, soft-bodied fish slid out, perhaps 75 mm in length. Flattened body with mouth set under. He slid off the body and was gone. As we continued to swim the fish, who eventually released well, the same thing happened again. what would they be, and how many could a sail support without ill-effects? Assuming they latch onto blood-rich membranes in the gill area to feed.
.thumbnail.jpg "Day's catch - minus a few skippy")
Travisd
Posts: 315
Date Joined: 07/05/11
Not baby remoras
thats what it sounds like if the were stuck on and were easy enough to pull off
Baron Sportsman
Just the depth that Varies
robert1979
Posts: 224
Date Joined: 13/05/12
was it like this?
was it like this?
dodgy
Posts: 4563
Date Joined: 01/02/10
Quite often see them on
Quite often see them on little bills. Not always in the gills. Using seem to bother them at all. More like a remora type fish. They don't embed themselves.
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Brucesta
Posts: 1721
Date Joined: 29/05/09
i'm like dodgy i reckon every
i'm like dodgy i reckon every 3rd fish or so has one on them and they just look like a baby remora
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ranmar850
Posts: 2702
Date Joined: 12/08/12
was it like this? Yep,
was it like this? Yep, thats them, definitely not a baby remora. They didn't seem to want to hang on once they were out of the gill area, just slipped back and fell off.
Glenn Moore
Posts: 228
Date Joined: 13/02/12
Remora
This is definately a Remora. There are eight species of Remora/Suckerfish, but one in particular specialises on billfishes - Spearfish Remora Remora brachyptera. That would be my guess.
Glenn Moore
Curator of Fishes
Western Australian Museum
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ranmar850
Posts: 2702
Date Joined: 12/08/12
Remora
Referring to Rogers and Swainstons reference book, I see that the common species we refer to as Remora is actually the Slender Suckerfish Echeneis naucrates . I didn't realise there were so many species. This one normally resides within the mouth/gill cavity? Neither of them appeared keen on hanging on to the external surace of the sail as he was being swum for release, after they had appeared from under the gill plate.