FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



351 



Size. — ^A length of 12 inches is the maximum so far recorded. 

 General range. — Warm seas generally, probably paralleling that of the swordfish. 

 Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — Goode and Bean's (1879, p. 21) description of 

 this sucker as not unfrequently accompanying swordfish into Massachusetts Bay 



Fig. 173.— Swordfish sucker (Remora brachyptera) 



probably applies to the whole Gulf except the Bay of Fundy, for specimens 

 have been brought in from near Matinicus Rock and near the Isles of Shoals, while 

 fishermen occasionally speak of seeing "suckers" clinging to the swordfish they har- 

 poon on the offshore Banks. Sometimes several are fastened to a single swordfish, 

 but they also report far more swordfish lacking than carrying these uninvited guests, 

 and as this has been the case with the few fish harpooned by the Grampus during 

 our cruises in the Gidf we have never seen it in life. 



Habits and food. — Nothing except the bare fact just mentioned is known of the 

 habits of the swordfish sucker. Presumably it feeds on fragments of the fish killed 

 by its host, as does the shark sucker whose actions are better known. Presumably, 

 too, it is as active a swimmer as are its relatives. Suckers are described by eye- 

 witnesses as usually fast to the shoulder of the swordfish, nor have we heard of one 

 actually within the gill cover of the latter, though very likely they refuge there as 

 do others of their tribe in the mouths and gill cavities of large sharks (p. 349). 

 Nothing whatever is known of their breeding habits. 



135. Remora (Remora remora Linnaeus) 



Jordan and Evermaun, 1896-1900, p. 2271. 



Description. — The chief distinction between the remora and the swordfish 

 sucker is that there are more plates in its sucking disk (about 18 as against 14 to 15), 



Fig. 174.— Remora (Remora remora). After Day 



and there are only about 23 rays in its dorsal fin whereas the swordfish sucker has 

 '29 to 32. Like the latter it is a stouter fish than the shark sucker (p. 349), and its 

 ventrals are similarly attached to the skin of the abdomen along their inner edges. 

 10227-1— 25 f 23 



