Remora australis, Whalesucker

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(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Carangiformes (Jacks) > Echeneidae (Remoras)
Etymology: Remora: Latin, remora = delay, hindrance (1567) (Ref. 45335).

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; pelagic-oceanic; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 1 - 50 m (Ref. 108953). Subtropical

Distribution Territories | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | 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). Mediterranean reports doubtful (Ref. 13729).

Size / Weight / Age

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

Short description Identification keys | 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).
Body shape (shape guide): elongated.

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).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

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. (Ref. 7300)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-2 (Global))

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 23 August 2012

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource | Sea Around Us

More information

Trophic ecology
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Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | National databases | OneZoom | Open Tree of Life | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | TreeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index
(Ref. 82804) 		PD50 = 0.5352 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight a=0.00263 (0.00112 - 0.00617), b=3.17 (2.96 - 3.38), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level
(Ref. 69278) 		3.5   ±0.4 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives
Resilience
(Ref. 120179) 		Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (Assuming Fec < 10,000).
Fishing Vulnerability
(Ref. 59153) 		Moderate to high vulnerability (45 of 100). 🛈
Nutrients
(Ref. 124155) 		Calcium = 77.4 [43.7, 128.9] mg/100g; Iron = 1.41 [0.88, 2.24] mg/100g; Protein = 18.9 [17.8, 19.9] %; Omega3 = 0.201 [0.111, 0.358] g/100g; Selenium = 28.8 [15.3, 56.4] μg/100g; VitaminA = 10.4 [3.5, 32.6] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.79 [0.57, 1.10] mg/100g (wet weight);