{"id":1445,"date":"2026-06-01T12:25:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T11:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/shocks-and-tremors-hitchhiking-fish-travel-on-the-backs-of-manta-rays\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T12:25:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T11:25:13","slug":"shocks-and-tremors-hitchhiking-fish-travel-on-the-backs-of-manta-rays","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/shocks-and-tremors-hitchhiking-fish-travel-on-the-backs-of-manta-rays\/","title":{"rendered":"Shocks and Tremors: Hitchhiking Fish Travel on the Backs of Manta Rays"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><\/figure>\n<p><strong>A long-term study has revealed a novel type of interaction between remoras and manta rays: \u201ccloacal hitchhiking,\u201d which appears to be a rather perplexing experience for the latter.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Remora Taxi<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In fifteen years, such behavior has been documented seven times, involving different species of <strong>manta rays<\/strong>. Specifically, remoras, known for maintaining mutualistic relationships with many large marine animals, approach their \u201c<em>victim<\/em>\u201d discreetly, then slip, in the blink of an eye, into its cloacal opening.<\/p>\n<section class=\"incontent-related\"><span class=\"incontent-related__title\">Read also<\/span> <span class=\"incontent-related__desc\">Why are pugs and bulldogs so hard to understand?<\/span><\/section>\n<p>Lead author of the new study, published in the journal <em>Ecology and Evolution<\/em>, Emily Yeager describes the interaction observed in July 2023 in the waters off Florida.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<em>During the approach phase, a medium-sized remora was visible near the pelvic fins of an adult manta ray<\/em>,\u201d she notes. \u201c<em>When the hitchhiker found itself beneath its belly, it inserted its head into its cloacal opening. Its host seemed to shudder, before continuing on its way, the remora still firmly lodged in that orifice<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to the team, this form of phoresy would offer several notable advantages for remoras. In addition to providing protection from predators, it would also allow them to conserve their energy, and it is also possible that these fish feed on the fecal residues inside the cloaca. On the manta side, such prolonged intrusions could potentially hinder mating, birthing, or defecation.<\/p>\n<section class=\"incontent-related\"><span class=\"incontent-related__title\">Read also<\/span> <span class=\"incontent-related__desc\">How many bees does it really take to produce a 500-gram jar of honey?<\/span><\/section>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<div class=\"cssc-content-video-wrapper\"><iframe title=\"\u201cCloacal Diving\u201d Observed In Remora As They\u2019re Filmed Entering The Private Parts Of Manta Rays\" width=\"680\" height=\"510\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/tRUhHisrj3c?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Relationships More Complex Than Expected<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Overall, such discoveries help illuminate the behavior of remoras, already known for slipping into the mouths or gills of various shark species.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<em>Although the exact mechanisms underlying this behavior remain unclear at this stage, it is evident that the relationships between the Echeneidae and their hosts are more physiologically and ecologically complex than previously assumed<\/em>,\u201d Yeager concludes.<\/p>\n<p>A few years ago, experiments had suggested that tardigrades could also use snails to travel farther.<\/p>\n<section class=\"incontent-related\"><span class=\"incontent-related__title\">Read also<\/span> <span class=\"incontent-related__desc\">Still threatened, the last wild horse breed welcomes a new foal<\/span><\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1446,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1608,98,1606,1609,1610,1604,1607,1605],"class_list":["post-1445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-backs","tag-fish","tag-hitchhiking","tag-manta","tag-rays","tag-shocks","tag-travel","tag-tremors","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1445"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1445\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1447,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1445\/revisions\/1447"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}