Pilot fish
2034182
215280495
2008-05-27T14:27:33Z
DOI bot
6652755
Citation maintenance. You can [[WP:DOI|use this bot]] yourself! Please [[User:DOI_bot/bugs|report any bugs]].
{{Taxobox
| name = Pilot Fish
| image = Naucrates ductor.jpg
| image_width = 240px
| regnum = [[Animal]]ia
| phylum = [[Chordate|Chordata]]
| classis = [[Actinopterygii]]
| ordo = [[Perciformes]]
| familia = [[Carangidae]]
| genus = '''''Naucrates'''''
| genus_authority = [[Constantine Samuel Rafinesque-Schmaltz|Rafinesque]], 1810
| species = '''''N. ductor'''''
| binomial = ''Naucrates ductor''
| binomial_authority = ([[Carolus Linnaeus|Linnaeus]], [[1758]])
}}
The '''pilot fish''' (''Naucrates ductor'') is a [[carnivorous]] fish that is a [[horse mackerel]] and belongs to the [[Carangidae]] family of fishes. It is widely distributed and lives in warm or tropical open seas.
== Description ==
The pilot fish congregates around [[shark]]s, [[Batoidea|rays]], and [[sea turtles]], where it eats [[ectoparasite]]s on and leftovers around the host species;<ref>{{cite book | title = Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico: Myxiniformes to Gasterosteiformes | last = McEachran | first = John D. | coauthors = Fechhelm, Janice D. | pages = p. 287 | year = 1998 | publisher = University of Texas Press | isbn = 0292706340}}</ref> younger pilot fish are usually associated with jellyfish and drifting seaweeds.<ref>{{cite book | title = A Field Guide to Pacific Coast Fishes | last = Eschmeyer | first = William N. | coauthors = Herald, Earl Stannard | | pages = p. 208 | year = 1999 | publisher = Houghton Mifflin Books | isbn = 0395268737}}</ref> They are also known to follow [[ships]], sometimes for huge distances; one was found in [[County Cork]], [[Ireland]],<ref>{{cite book | title = The Natural History of Ireland | last = Thompson | first = William | pages = p. 95 | publisher = Reeve, Benham and Reeve | year = 1856}}</ref> and many pilot fish have been sighted on the shores of [[England]].<ref>{{cite book | title = A History of the Fishes of the British Islands | last = Couch | first = Jonathan | year = 1863 | pages = p. 109 | publisher = Groombridge & Sons}} <!-- volume II, if cite book gets a volume parameter --></ref><ref>{{cite book | title = A History of British Fishes | last = Yarrell | first = William | year = 1841 | edition = 2nd. ed. | pages = p. 170 | publisher = John van Voorst | quote = The pilot-fish has been so often seen, and occasionally taken on our southern coast, as to be entitled to a place among British Fishes[.]}}</ref> Their fondness for ships led the ancients to believe that they would navigate a ship to its desired course.<ref>{{cite book | title = First Steps to Zoology | last = Patterson | first = Robert | pages = p. 149 | year = 1849 | publisher = Simms and McIntyre | quote = [The pilot fish is] supposed by the ancients to have pointed out to navigators their desired course, and borne them company during their voyage.}}</ref>
The pilot fish is of a dark blue to blackish-silver colour, with the belly being lighter in colour.<ref>{{cite book | title = A History of the Earth and Animated Nature | last = Goldsmith | first = Oliver | pages = p. 159 | year = 1810}} <!-- volume II --></ref><ref>Eschmeyer & Herald 1999, p. 208.</ref><ref>{{cite book | title = Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea | pages = p. 164 | last = Randall | first = John | coauthors = Allen, Gerald; Steen, Roger | publisher = University of Hawaii Press | year = 1997 | isbn = 0824818954}}</ref> The pilot fish is also known to have a temporary variation of colour when excited; its dark-coloured bars disappear, and its body turns a silvery-white colour, with three broad blue patches on its back.<ref>Eschmeyer & Herald, p. 208.</ref> It is easily recognisable by its distinctive traverse bands,<ref>Goldsmith 1810, p. 159.</ref> which are of a much darker colour than the rest of the body, and number between 5 and 7.<ref>Eschmeyer & Herald 1999, p. 208.</ref> The pilot fish can grow up to 60-70 cm in length.<ref>Various sources give different figures:
* Eschmayer & Herald 1999, p. 208, claims a maximum of 61 cm, averaging less than 30cm in the studied area (the Pacific).
* Randall, Allen & Steen 1997, p. 164, gives a maximum figure of 70 cm, as does [[FishBase]].
* An average size of 60cm is given by {{cite book | title = The Sea and Freshwater Fishes of Australia and New Guinea | year = 1997 | last = Jennings | first = Gerald | publisher = Calypso Publications | pages = p. 163 | isbn = 0906301629}}
* An older source gives a figure of "about a foot". See the third volume of {{cite book | last = Orr | first = William Somerville | title = Orr's Circle of the Sciences: A Series of Treatises on the Principles of Science, with their Application to Practical Pursuits | year = 1865 | publisher = Houlston & Stoneman | pages = p. 50}}.
</ref>
The pilot fish is harmless to human beings<ref>{{ITIS|ID=168742|taxon=Naucrates ductor|year=2005|date=June 24}}</ref> and is said to be good eating;<ref>Orr 1865, p. 50. "Its flesh is said to be very good."</ref><ref>Yarrell 1841, p. 172. "After this the two [pilot] fish separated; but they were both taken the same evening, and, when dressed the next day, were found to be excellent eating."</ref> however, the fish is difficult to land because of its erratic behaviour when caught.<ref>{{cite journal | journal = The Geographical Journal | number = 5 | volume = 66 | date = November 1925 | title = The Sargasso Sea | quote = They take the hook readily, but go quite insane when hooked, and are difficult to land in spite of their size, 6 to 16 inches. | pages = 440}}</ref>
==Relationship with sharks==
[[Image:Carcharhinus longimanus 1.jpg|thumb|right|While pilot fish can be seen with all manner of sharks, they are said to prefer accompanying the [[oceanic whitetip shark|oceanic whitetip]], ''Carcharhinus longimanus''.<ref>{{cite book | title = Sharks of Florida, the Bahamas, the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico | pages = p. 32 | last = Stafford-Deitsch | first = Jeremy | year = 2000 | publisher = Trident Press | isbn = 1900724456}}</ref>|245px]]
The pilot fish's relationship with sharks is a [[mutualist]] one; the pilot fish gains protection from predators, while the shark gains freedom from parasites.<ref>{{cite book | title = Thinking about Biology | last = Webster | first = Stephen | publisher = Cambridge University Press | pages = p. 24 | year = 2003 | isbn = 0521590590}}</ref> It was often said by [[sailor]]s that sharks and pilot fish share something like a "close companionship";<ref>Couch 1863, p. 110-111.</ref> there were even tales of this fish following ships which had captured "their" shark for up to six weeks<ref>{{cite book | title = Historical and Descriptive Account of British India, from the Most Remote Period to the Present Time | last = Murray | first = Hugh | coauthors = Wilson, James; Greville, R. K.; Jameson, Robert; Ainslie, Whitelaw; Rhind, William; Wallace, Prof.; Dalrymble, Clarence | pages = p. 337 | year = 1832 | publisher = J. & J. Harper}} <!-- volume III --></ref> and showing signs of distress in its absence.<ref>{{cite book | title = History of Barbados: Comprising a Geographical and Statistical Description of the Island | last = Schomburgk | first = Robert Hermann | year = 1848 | pages = p. 669}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | title = Some Instances of Supposed Sympathy Among Fishes | journal = The Scientific Monthly | date = March 1929 | volume = 28 | number = 3 | last = Gudger | first = E. W. | pages = 267}}</ref>
Whatever the [[wikt:veracity|veracity]] of such reports, it is extremely rare that a shark will feed on a pilot fish,<ref>{{cite journal | journal = Science | title = The Deep-Sea Fishes Collected by the Talisman | volume = 23 | number = 68 | date = May 23, 1884 | pages = 624 | quote = It seems that Naucrates acts as a guide for the sharks, and that the latter, in recognition of its services, never pursue it.}}</ref> and smaller pilot fish are frequently observed swimming into sharks' mouths to clean away fragments of food from between their teeth. As [[Herman Melville]], in a work considered one of his finest,<ref>{{cite book | title = Visions and Revisions of American Poetry | last = Turco | first = Lewis | year = 1986 | publisher = University of Arkansas Press | pages = p. 65 | isbn = 0938626507 | quote = "The Maldive Shark" is as close to perfection as Melville ever came in his verse poetry.}}</ref> put it,
{{quotation|They have nothing of harm to dread,<br />
But liquidly glide on his ghastly flank<br />
Or before his Gorgonian head;<br />
Or lurk in the port of serrated teeth<br />
In white triple tiers of glittering gates,<br />
And there find a haven when peril 's abroad,<br />
An asylum in jaws of the Fates!<ref>''The Maldive Shark'', in {{cite book | last = Melville | first = Herman | title = John Marr and Other Sailors | pages = 90 | year = 1888 | publisher = The De Vinne Press | url = http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/18/}}</ref>}}
These observations have led to the pilot fish's distinctive markings being copied for [[decal]]s supplied as shark protection for [[surfboard]]s.<ref>{{cite news | last = Hurley | first = Timothy | title = Company sold out of anti-shark device | url = http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2003/Nov/06/ln/ln03a.html | work = The Honolulu Advertiser | date = 2003-11-06 | accessdate = 2007-07-26 | quote = Sharkcamo sells rash guards and decals for surfboards and bodyboards that have zebralike stripes that mimic the pattern of certain fish — poisonous fish, cleaner fish, pilot fish and remoras — that sharks do not choose as prey.}} See also the [http://www.sharkcamo.com.au Shark Camo website].</ref>
== Etymology and metaphors ==
There are a few possible, conflicting [[etymologies]] for the term "pilot fish". One is that sea-faring people believed that pilot fish, which would appear around the [[bow (ship)|bow]] of their ships when they were close to land, were leading (or piloting) them back to port.<ref name="london">{{cite encyclopedia | encyclopedia = The London Encyclopædia, or, Universal Dictionary of Science, Art, Literature, and Practical Mechanics | title = Pilot Fish | year = 1839 | volume = XVII | page = p. 396 | quote = Seafaring people observe that this fish frequently accompanies their vessels; and, as they see it generally towards the fore part of the ship, they imagined that it was guiding and tracing out the course of the vessel, and hence it received the name of pilot-fish.}}</ref> An alternative etymology is that pilot fish were once, erroneously,<ref>Stafford-Deitsch 2000, p. 32. "The myth that pilotfishes guide their host to prey is erroneously derived from the fact that pilotfishes [...] often ride the pressure wave immediately in front of the snout of their host."</ref> thought to be piloting sharks to food,<ref>{{cite book | title = This Amazing Planet | last = Andrews | first = Roy Chapman | pages = p. 88 | publisher = G.P. Putnam's Sons | year = 1940}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title = Narrative of a Five Years' Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam in Guiana on the Wild Coast of South America from the Years 1772-1777 | first = John Gabriel | last = Stedman | year = 1813 | pages = p. 400 | quote = The pilot-fish ought here also to be noticed: this [...] is said not only to feed upon the gills of the shark, but to direct it to its prey, from which singularity originates its name.}}</ref> or even (as legends have it) piloting ships, whales and swimmers to safety.<ref>Eschmeyer & Herald 2002, p. 209. "The name Pilotfish comes from legendary tales of this species leading lost swimmers, ships, or whales to safety."</ref>
In this latter sense, the pilot fish is sometimes used as a [[metaphor]] or [[simile]]; "they are like the pilot fish to the shark, serving to lead him to his victim".<ref>{{citation | title = Journal of Discourses by Brigham Young | last = Watt | first = G. D. | volume = II | pages = p. 188 | year = 1855 | publisher = F. D. Richards}}</ref> In a vaguely similar vein, [[Ernest Hemingway]] uses the term "pilot fish" in his memoirs (''[[A Moveable Feast]]'') to refer to the scouts that rich people send out to check on artists to see if they're the next big thing.
==References==
{{reflist}}
*{{ITIS|ID=168742|taxon=Naucrates ductor|year=2005|date=June 24}}
*{{FishBase_species_alt|ID=998|taxon=Naucrates ductor|year=2005|month=May}}
*NOAA Library Image: http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/historic/nmfs/figb0368.htm
== External links ==
*[http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?ID=998 Naucrates ductor] at [[FishBase]]
[[Category:Carangidae]]
[[de:Pilotfisch]]
[[es:Naucrates ductor]]
[[eo:Pilotfiŝo]]
[[fr:Naucrates ductor]]
[[it:Naucrates ductor]]
[[ka:ლოცმანი (თევზი)]]
[[nl:Loodsmannetje]]
[[ja:ブリモドキ]]
[[pl:Ryba pilot]]
[[pt:Peixe-piloto]]
[[scn:Nfànfaru]]
[[simple:Pilot fish]]
[[tr:Malta palamudu]]
[[zh:舟鰤]]