Science Needs Creativity

You know that one houseguest who always overstays their welcome? Well, trust me, you haven't met the worst one yet, but scientists have, and it's the humble remora.

That's the little suckerfish famous for hitching rides on sharks and whales by sticking to their body.

But some of these fish are taking their so-called free ride just a little too far.

A new study led by researchers from the University of Miami showed that remoras have been spotted diving headfirst into the rear ends of manta rays.

[laughs] Yeah, you, you heard that right.

The researchers looked at footage from thousands of manta ray surveys from hubs around the globe from the Maldives to Florida.

The footage was captured between 2010 and 2025, and in just seven of those recordings, they saw remoras actually swimming into the cloaca of manta rays.

The cloaca, by the way, is an opening used for both pooping and birthing babies, and a lot of animals have one, like birds and manta rays.

But let's just say that I don't know if, if nature meant for it to be a guesthouse.

One video was captured by a free diver in Florida, and they posted it on social media, so of course, I had to take a look.

The remora was hanging out near a manta ray's pelvic fins.

As the diver swam closer with their camera, the remora seemed to panic and shot straight into the manta's cloacal opening.

It happened really fast, and the manta ray was also visibly startled.

It, like, shuddered, and some might describe it as squeezing its cheeks if, if it had cheeks.

But then the manta ray just kept on swimming, leaving the intruder inside.

This is a rare video of this behavior, which is called cloacal diving.

That's, that's actually in the paper.

How fun.

And they published their work in the journal Ecology and Evolution in collaboration with The Manta Trust and the Marina Megafauna Foundation.

Remoras have hidden in the bodies of whale sharks, but manta rays are much smaller, so this raises some questions.

Could a fish stuck inside a manta ray's nether region actually cause physical harm? The study suggests it might.

The authors warn that cloacal diving could potentially interfere with the ray's ability to mate, give birth, or even defecate if the fish stays in there for too long.

Plus, they weren't able to observe the remora exiting, so they really can't say how long it typically overstays its welcome.

For years, scientists have thought of remoras and manta rays as having a mostly harmless relationship and sometimes beneficial.

Remoras are also called suckerfish because they use specialized suction cups on top of their heads to attach themselves to a manta's body.

You know that one houseguest who always overstays their welcome? Well, trust me, you haven't met the worst one yet, but scientists have, and it's the humble remora.

That's the little suckerfish famous for hitching rides on sharks and whales by sticking to their body.

But some of these fish are taking their so-called free ride just a little too far.

A new study led by researchers from the University of Miami showed that remoras have been spotted diving headfirst into the rear ends of manta rays.

[laughs] Yeah, you, you heard that right.

The researchers looked at footage from thousands of manta ray surveys from hubs around the globe from the Maldives to Florida.

The footage was captured between 2010 and 2025, and in just seven of those recordings, they saw remoras actually swimming into the cloaca of manta rays.

The cloaca, by the way, is an opening used for both pooping and birthing babies, and a lot of animals have one, like birds and manta rays.

But let's just say that I don't know if, if nature meant for it to be a guesthouse.

One video was captured by a free diver in Florida, and they posted it on social media, so of course, I had to take a look.

The remora was hanging out near a manta ray's pelvic fins.

As the diver swam closer with their camera, the remora seemed to panic and shot straight into the manta's cloacal opening.

It happened really fast, and the manta ray was also visibly startled.

It, like, shuddered, and some might describe it as squeezing its cheeks if, if it had cheeks.

But then the manta ray just kept on swimming, leaving the intruder inside.

This is a rare video of this behavior, which is called cloacal diving.

That's, that's actually in the paper.

How fun.

And they published their work in the journal Ecology and Evolution in collaboration with The Manta Trust and the Marina Megafauna Foundation.

Remoras have hidden in the bodies of whale sharks, but manta rays are much smaller, so this raises some questions.

Could a fish stuck inside a manta ray's nether region actually cause physical harm? The study suggests it might.

The authors warn that cloacal diving could potentially interfere with the ray's ability to mate, give birth, or even defecate if the fish stays in there for too long.

Plus, they weren't able to observe the remora exiting, so they really can't say how long it typically overstays its welcome.

For years, scientists have thought of remoras and manta rays as having a mostly harmless relationship and sometimes beneficial.

Remoras are also called suckerfish because they use specialized suction cups on top of their heads to attach themselves to a manta's body.