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The sharksucker (Echeneis naucrates) attached to a tucuxi dolphin (Sotalia guianensis) in estuarine waters in south-eastern Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 January 2009

Marcos César de Oliveira Santos  and
Ivan Sazima
Marcos César de Oliveira Santos*
Affiliation:
Projeto Atlantis, Laboratório de Biologia de Conservação de Ceatáceos Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Júlio de Mesquita Filho (UNESP), Campus Rioclaro Avenido 24-A, 1515, Bela vista, Rioclaro, SP, Brazil
Ivan Sazima
Affiliation:
Departamento de Zoologia and Museu de História Natural, CP 6109, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, 13083-970 Campinas, SP, Brazil
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: M.C. de Oliveria Santos, Projeto Atlantis/Instituto de Biologia da Conservação, LabMar, Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil, Rua do Matão, 321, Cidade Universitária, 01454-010 São Paulo, SP, Brazil e-mail: sotalia@gmail.com
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Abstract

During a photo-identification survey for a study of area use and social organization of marine tucuxi dolphins (Sotalia guianensis) in an estuarine area in south-eastern Brazil, a remora or discfish was recorded attached to one dolphin in a group of 25. The record place (water salinity 28 psu at the record time) is about 23 km from the closest connection between the estuary and the open sea. The discfish was identified as a sharksucker (Echeneis naucrates). This is the first record of a remora on a marine tucuxi dolphin. Besides adding a new host to the cetacean species which are known to carry remoras, our record strengthens the recent suggestion that sharksuckers use coastal dolphins as hosts.

Keywords

sharksuckerEcheneis noucratesSotalia guianensisremoradiscfish
Type
Research Article
Information
Marine Biodiversity Records , Volume 1 , January 2008 , e7
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2005

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