Author: Linnaeus, 1758
Echeneis naucrates Linnaeus, 1758
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Echeneis naucrates Linnaeus, 1758 (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body elongate. Disc laminae 21 (23) 28; anal finrays 31 (37) 41. Vertebrae 30. Colour: a dark brown, horizontal stripe on mid-side of body; dorsal, anal and caudal fins almost completely dark in adults,tips of longest rays of dorsal and anal fins, and tips of lobes of caudal fin with a reduced light area. Size: to about 1 m SL.
Habitat: shallow coastal waters, free swimming, or attached to host, most often to sharks. Food: no data. Reproduction: no data.
Distribution: Mediterranean, but not in Atlantic part of area. Elsewhere, worldwide except for Pacific American coast.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Delsman, 1926: 805 | Sanzo, 1927: 3; 1930a: 201-209, fig. 1-9 | John, 1950: 47, pl. 7.
Otoliths (sagitta). Frost, 1930a: 231-239.