The clutch of remora fish are holding on tight, but collectively release their grip just as the humpback whale they are riding breaches the surface of the ocean.<\/p>\n
Moments later, everyone is back on board, as the whale re-enters the water, all hurtling together off the coast of south-east Queensland<\/a>.<\/p>\n This rare footage of suckerfish was captured by marine scientist Dr Olaf Meynecke from Griffith University using camera tags attached to humpback whales.<\/p>\n \u201cThe remora are able to sense the change in speed and water depth,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was amazing to see how fast and nimble they were during several different rides with the whales.\u201d<\/p>\n Remora are long, slender fish that grow between 30-90cm. Instead of a dorsal fin on their backs, remora have a suction disc that they use to attach to larger marine animals, earning them monikers like \u201csharksucker\u201d, \u201cwhalesucker\u201d or \u201cmarlinsucker\u201d.<\/p>\n In Australia, there are several species of remora<\/a>, known to attach to sharks, turtles, whales and dolphins, and occasionally even humans.<\/p>\n Little is known about them \u2013 they are challenging to study, due to their need for speed. But the footage offered fascinating insight, Meynecke said.<\/p>\n From the whale\u2019s point of view, remora probably increased the total drag, he continued. In return, the hitchhikers likely earned their way by eating parasites and cleaning the whale\u2019s skin.<\/p>\n The footage seemed to confirm this. Like humans, whales constantly shed dead skin, and in some vision, remora can be seen eating it.<\/p>\n Remora were generally thought to be host-specific, Meynecke said, which meant they remained with the same species all their lives.<\/p>\n But the sucker fish sometimes even attach themselves to scuba divers, Prof Culum Brown said, an expert in fish behaviour at Macquarie University, who was not involved in the research.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Sign up to Clear Air Australia<\/p>\n Adam Morton brings you incisive analysis about the politics and impact of the climate crisis<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n A school of suckerfish, including remora, following a whale shark in Ningaloo Reef, Western Australia. Photograph: Jason Edwards\/Getty Images\/National Geographic Creative<\/p>\n Remora\u2019s modified dorsal fin provided the suction and it is \u201cquite a unique little engineering feat,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cIf they\u2019re pushing themselves up against their host and they wiggle backwards, it actually increases the suction. And if they swim forwards, it decreases the suction.\u201d<\/p>\n By hitching a ride rather than swimming for themselves, remora gained several advantages, Brown said.<\/p>\n Aside from enjoying a feast of whale detritus, remora even breathe easier \u2013 instead of pumping water across their gills to breathe, they simply open their mouth and enjoy the ride.<\/p>\n \u201cI think they\u2019re basically cheating the whole system. They\u2019re getting a free ride and a free feed, which is a bit cheeky,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n Whale scientist Dr Vanessa Pirotta, who was not involved with the research, said whales were providing \u201cthe ultimate free Uber around the sea\u201d. And remora weren\u2019t the only animals hitching a ride, she said, but barnacles as well.<\/p>\n \u201cWhales are a vehicle transporting an abundance of marine life throughout their journey. An aspect we often underestimate or simply don\u2019t see,\u201d Meynecke said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The clutch of remora fish are holding on tight, but collectively release their grip just as the humpback…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274206,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-274205","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}