Live sharksucker

Echeneis naucrates

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth6–76 m
Water temperature14–30 °C
Best monthsAugust, September, and October
How commonCommon

All species

Photo credit: no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist

About this species

The live sharksucker or slender sharksucker is a species of marine fish in the family Echeneidae, the remoras.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Live sharksucker”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 305 records
February: 261 records
March: 306 records
April: 301 records
May: 398 records
June: 367 records
July: 379 records
August: 507 records
September: 598 records
October: 490 records
November: 375 records
December: 308 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 6–76 m · Deepest record: 1,080 m

0–10 m: 333 records
10–20 m: 289 records
20–30 m: 258 records
30–40 m: 248 records
40–50 m: 153 records
50–60 m: 111 records
60–70 m: 73 records
70–80 m: 40 records
80–90 m: 86 records
90–100 m: 28 records
100–110 m: 7 records
110+ m: 23 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 14–30 °C

14–16 °C: 2 records
16–18 °C: 3 records
18–20 °C: 0 records
20–22 °C: 9 records
22–24 °C: 27 records
24–26 °C: 105 records
26–28 °C: 152 records
28–30 °C: 42 records

Photos

(c) coenobita, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Dan Schofield, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Kristiina Hurme, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Daniel Z, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Kai Murphy, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) TonyT, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Live sharksucker, Sharksucker, Australian Remora, Gapu, live sharksucker, Live Shark-sucker, Remora, Shark Remora, sharksucker, Sharksucker Remora, Slender Sharksucker, Slender Sucker-fish, Slender Suckerfish, Slender Sucker Fish, Slender Sucking Fish, Striped Suckerfish, Suckerfish, Suckerfish, Live sharksucker, White Tailed Remore

Names in 6 more languages

German: Gestreifter Schiffshalter, Schiffshalter
Spanish: guaicán, Pega, Pegador, Pegatimon, Pegatimón, Remora, Rémora, rémora rayada, Rémora Tiburonera
French: Arrête-nef, Grand rémora, Grand rémora, Rémora, naucrate, Pilote, Poisson pilote, Rémora, Rémora commun, Rémora fuselé, Rémora rayé
Japanese: Kobanzame, コバンザメ
Thai: ปลาเหาฉลาม
Simplified Chinese: 長印仔魚, 長印魚, 長鮣魚, 鮣

Other scientific names: Echeneis chiromacer, Echeneis fasciata, Echeneis fusca, Echeneis guaican, Echeneis lunata, Echeneis metallica, Echeneis naucratus, Echeneis neucrates, Echeneis scaphecrates, Echeneis vittata, Echensis naucrates, Echneis naucrates, Leptecheneis flaviventris, Leptecheneis naucrates

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
3,606 open-data records from 1758 to 2024.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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