What the heck is this???

[scubajb]

Hey! Been away for a while. Diving a lot too so that's cool. I was diving in the Bahamas this last week and saw one of these a couple of times. Being a landlocked high altitude diver for most of the time, I really don't know what it is.

So, what the heck is it?

 

[heavyjeffd]

That looks like a Remora to me.

 

[archman]

To be even more specific, it's a sharksucker.

Someone will drop by momentarily to tell you which species. My book is in the office.

 

[scubajb]

okedoke... this is the fish that attaches to the sharks then. saw lots of sharks but this guy was in O.W. so didn't know. Thanks!!!

 

[sid101]

Yes thats a remora, wich species i don't know, they ussualy leave their host for some time or to get another, some species won't be arround for mating season to protect themselves, or it just maybe attached to a shark wich didn't grow as much as she needed so he left him.

 

[knotical]

Several possibilities.

The Humann and DeLoach book, ( New World Publications - Product Index ) shows two fairly common ones including:

sharksucker, Echeneis naucrates.
http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.php?id=2467

and whitefin sharksucker Echeneis neucratoides.

But to add confusion to the issue, starting on page 1414 of this document:
ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/009/y4162e/y4162e00.pdf
you’ll see there are eight candidates in the region.