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Remarkable Family Of Fishes: REMORA, rem'6-ra, or SUCKING FISH,suk'ing fish, any one of a remarkable family of fishes, Echeneididae, characterized by a suck-torial pad on top of the head. The pad is oval in shape, surrounded by a ridge of firm Tissue and transversed by erectile ridges. It is thought to be a modification of the first dorsal fin. When the pad is placed against a surface and the ridges raised, the remora establishes a sucking action of such strength that its hold is difficult to break.
Food changes as creature grows; young feed almost entirely on aquatic insects and crustaceans; later take frogs, snakes, and fishes; then fishes, young pigs, muskrats, and some waterfowl; adult takes fishes, pigs, and larger animals that stray too close to water's edge, such as cows, calves, and deer.
Voice: Both young and old alligators hiss; female grunts like a pig in calling young; young make moaning sound, with mouth closed.
RASBORA, raz'bo-ra, a genrs of sr fishes of the family Cyprinidae (q.v.), the ;: minnows, comprising about 25 known species I Most of the species are native to southeaster | Asia, India, and Borneo, but a few are Afrif: Rasboras are of special interest because r.. than half of the species have served as aquar fishes. The best known is the red, rasbora, r bora heteromorpha, a brilliant fish about : inches long that is adaptable to aquarium life. will tolerate temperatures between 68° and 88: although, as with others of the genus, its optiir temperature is around 75° F. Among other :• ular species are R. maculata, the pygmy raslj-about one inch long; R. dorsiocellata, the •: finned rasbora; and R. elegans, the yellow: bora, one of the larger species. |
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