78 U.S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 2 02 Vol. 3 



caudal filament that transforms with increase in body length to an 

 arrow-shaped caudal fin and then to the definite fin with a truncate 

 posterior margin and extended outer tips. 



Color in alcohol. — Head and body dark brown, or dark grayish 

 brown to black; darker dorsally, lighter ventrally. A dark brown, 

 horizontal lateral stripe, wider than diameter of eye, extends from 

 tip of lower jaw through eye, laterally on body to base of caudal fin. 

 A light area above dark stripe on body on some specimens and a 

 narrow, light stripe just below dark stripe, visible particularly on 

 specimens about 425 to 450 mm. in length. 



Pectoral and pelvic fins hght in small specimens becoming completely 

 black in the largest specimens; anterior portion of dorsal and anal 

 fin with longest rays hght, to or nearly to base in small specimens, 

 remainder of fin black; dorsal and anal fin completely black in almost 

 all larger specimens, only a faint touch of hght remaining on three 

 specimens; caudal fin with some white on outer margin in smaller 

 specimens; usually completely darkened in the larger specimens or 

 reduced to a very narrow fringe on outer tip. 



Ecology. — This species is commonly taken inshore, in shallow water, 

 and is often captured by hook and fine. 



Hosts. — None of the specimens from study area were removed from 

 hosts. From the literature and museum records I find sharks, 

 comprising several genera and species, to be the usual host of E. 

 naucrates. These hosts include such genera as Ginglymostoma, 

 Galeocerdo, CarcharMnus, Carcharias, and Scoliodon. Various other 

 hosts are ray, stingray, parrotfish, redsnapper, grouper, carangid, 

 tarpon, barracuda, pompano, and trunkfish. 



Remarks. — This species of sharksucker is uniformly and widely 

 distributed in the warmer waters of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian 

 oceans. 



Genus REMORA Gill 



Remora Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, p. 239, 1862 (type species, 



Echeneis remora Linnaeus; see Opinion 242, Int. Comm. Zool. Nomencl., 



vol. 5, pt. 3, 1954). 

 Remilegia Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 14, p. 239, 1862 (type 



species, Echeneis scutata Glinther, 1S60^ Echeneis australis Bennett, 1840). 

 Rhombochirus Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 15, p. 88, 1863 (type 



species, Echeneis osteochir Cuvier). 

 Remoropsis Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, vol. 15, p. 88, 1863 (type 



species, Echeneis brachyptera Lowe). 



Vertebrae 12 + 15, sometimes 13 + 14=27; disk laminae 15 to 28; 

 origin of dorsal fin over or in advance of anal origin ; median spinelike 

 disk process just before first laminae laterally compressed, axe-shaped, 

 movable, and situated in a cavity or very short, blunt-tipped, and 



