BARRACUDAS, REMORAS AND OTHERS 173 



etc.), but this is perhaps a native Indian word. The scientific 

 name, Sphyrcena, meaning " hammer ", is also obscure, but 

 Dr. Gudger has pointed out that the Barracuda is the " Pick- 

 hammer fish ", the name referring to the pick end of the tool 

 and in allusion to the shape of the head and snout. 



REMORAS OR SUCKING-FISHES. 

 (Family Echeneidid^e.) Fig. 57. 



With the Remoras or Sucking-fishes we leave the Perch- 

 like fishes (Percomorphi) and pass on to another Order of 

 Bony Fishes, the Discocephali (" disc heads "), a group which 

 has clearly been derived from Perch-like ancestors. Indeed, 

 apart from the transformation of the spinous dorsal fin into 

 an adhesive disc, these fishes might well be regarded as Percoids. 

 The Remoras may be described as follows : 



The body is long, or of moderate length, and is covered 

 with minute smooth scales. The mouth is wide, with the lower 

 jaw projecting beyond the upper. There are bands of small, 

 pointed teeth in the jaws, on the roof of the mouth, and 

 usually on the tongue. The spinous dorsal fin is transformed 

 into a large, oval sucking disc, which is placed well forward 

 on the flat upper surface of the head, and is provided with a 

 series of transverse plates, with free hinder edges, and sur- 

 rounded by a membrane. The soft dorsal and anal fins are 

 rather long, and are placed opposite to each other. The 

 caudal fin is rounded, square-cut or a little concave on its 

 hinder edge. The pectoral fins are placed high up on the sides 

 of the body, and the pelvic fins are placed just below them. 

 There is no air-bladder. The coloration is black, grey, brown 

 or dark green, and the belly is usually as dark or nearly as 

 dark as the back. In some species the young and half -grown 

 individuals have a broad, dark stripe, edged with white, 

 running lengthwise from the tip of the snout through the eye 

 to the tail on each side, and the edges of the dorsal and anal 

 fins, as well as the corners of the caudal fin, are tipped with 

 pure white. 



The largest species grows to a length of 3 or 4 feet. 



There are four genera of Remoras, and about ten species. The 

 two most familiar types ?re the Shark-sucker, Pega, Pegador 



