370 



FISHES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



Genus LEPTECHENEIS Gill. Shark-suckers; Remoras. 



Body slender, fusiform; disk long, with 20 to 28 laminae; soft dorsal with 

 numerous short rays; anal similar, the anterior rays somewhat elongate; caudal 

 slightly concave behind; pectorals pointed, the rays soft and flexible; ventrals 

 long, narrowly adnate to abdomen. A single species of world wide distribution. 

 (Leptecheneis, slender Echeneis.) 



320. LEPTECHENEIS NAUCRATES (Linnaeus). 

 "Pilot"; "Shark's Pilot"; Shark-sucker; Remora. 



Echeneis naucrates Linnaeus, Systema Naturs, ed. x, 261, 1758; Indian Ocean. Jordan & Gilbert, 1879, 381 ; 



Beaufort. Jenkins, 1887, 87; Beaufort. Jordan & Evermann, 1898, 2269, pi. cccxxix, fig. 796. 



Wilson, 1900, 355; Beaufort. 

 Leptecheneis naucrates. Yarrow, 1877, 212; Beaufort. 

 tEcheneis naucrafeoides Zuiew, Nova Acta Academiae Scientiarum Imperialis Petropolitanse, iv, 1789, 279. 



Jordan & Evermann, 1898, 2270. 

 Echeneis lineata Holbrook, Iclithyology of South Carolina, 102, 1860; Charleston. 



Diagnosis. — Depth contained 9 to 12 times in total length; the caudal peduncle very 

 slender; head about .2 length; strongly projecting lower jaw with flexible tip; maxLUary not 

 reaching anterior margin of eye, .33 length of head; snout more than .4 length of head; 

 eye small, .2 head; gUl-rakers very short and slender, the longest equal to diameter of pupil; 

 length of disk .2 to .3 length of body, its width .4 its length, the laminiB 20 to 28; soft dorsal 

 very low, the rays 32 to 40; anal rays 31 to 38; caudal rather long, the edge concave in adults, 

 the middle rays longer than in young; pectorals .66 length of head; ventrals slightly longer 

 than pectorals, the inner rays narrowly joined to abdomen by a membrane. Color: slaty 

 brown; a broad blackish stripe, widest anteriorly, extending from pectoral base to caudal fin, 

 margined with white; the same stripe extending across opercle, through eye, to snout; dorsal 

 and anal fins with white margins; caudal black, the angles white; pectorals and ventrals black, 

 with pale edges, (naucrates, a pilot.) 



Fig. 169. Shark-sucker; Remora. Leptecheneis naucrates. 



This is the best known remora of the Atlantic coast, most frequently found 

 attached to large fishes. It attains a length of nearly 3 feet. At Beaufort it is 

 not uncommon, usually attached to sharks, but also swimming independently 

 and sometimes caught with hook and line from the wharves. The local names 

 are "pilot" and "shark's pilot". ^ In July, 1905, a number were taken in a 

 pound net operated in connection with the laboratory. 



The nominal species naucrateoides is said to differ from naucrates in 

 having 20 or 21 laminoe in the sucking disk and the disk contained less than 4 

 times in total length of fish; but it seems to the present writer that this distinction 

 can not be maintained. Examples from Beaufort have 23 laminse and the disk 

 contained 3.5 times in total length of fish, thus partaking of the character of 

 both forms. 



