Dictionary

sharksucker en · NOUN

Etymology

From shark + sucker.

Meanings

1. The remora or suckerfish.
   • Remoras and sharksuckers directly attach themselves to large sharks, Manta Rays, and large bony fish, feeding on scraps of their hosts' dinners and taking smaller fish not eaten by the host. 2012, Noble S. Proctor, A Field Guide to the Southeast Coast & Gulf of Mexico:
   • Shark fishermen sometimes receive an unexpected bonus in the form of small fishes known as remoras, or sharksuckers, which are attached to the sharks by a sucking disk located on the top of the head. 1972, Earl Stannard Herald, Fishes of North America, page 155:
   • The sharksucker may be found free swimming but is most often found hitchhiking on a larger fish by attaching itself to the fish with the sucker disk on top of its head. 2007, Mike Lane, Angler's Guide to Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico, page 191:

Forms

Deriveds

live sharksucker · whitefin sharksucker

Relateds

whalesucker

Synonyms

echeneid · echeneidid · suckerfish · remora