{{Short description|Species of fish}} {{For|another type of fish known as pilot fish|Sea chub}} {{For|the ancient Greek rhetorician|Naucrates (rhetorician)}} {{Speciesbox | name = Pilot fish | image = Pilot_fish,_India.jpg | image_caption = Near Mangalore, India | status = LC | status_system = IUCN3.1 | status_ref = <ref name = iucn>{{cite iucn | author1 = Smith-Vaniz, W.F. | author2 = Brown, J. | author3 = Pina Amargos, F. | author4 = Williams, J.T. | author5 = Curtis, M. | year = 2015 | title = ''Naucrates ductor'' |errata=2017 | volume = 2015 | article-number = e.T190452A115322218 | doi = 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2015-4.RLTS.T190452A16643992.en | name-list-style = amp}}</ref> | display_parents = 3 | parent_authority = Rafinesque, 1810 | taxon = Naucrates ductor | authority = (Linnaeus, 1758) | synonyms = {{Specieslist |Gasterosteus ductor|Linnaeus, 1758 |Hemitripteronotus quinquemaculatus|Lacepède, 1801 |Naucrates fanfarus|Rafinesque, 1810 |Naucrates indicus|Lesson, 1831 |Naucrates noveboracensis|Cuvier, 1832 |Nauclerus compressus|Valenciennes, 1833 |Seriola dussumieri|Valenciennes, 1833 |Seriola succincta|Valenciennes, 1833 |Nauclerus abreviatus|Valenciennes, 1833 |Nauclerus brachycentrus|Valenciennes, 1833 |Nauclerus triacanthus|Valenciennes, 1833 |Nauclerus annularis|Valenciennes, 1833 |Nauclerus leucurus|Valenciennes, 1833 |Naucrates cyanophrys|Swainson, 1839 |Naucrates serratus|Swainson, 1839 |Thynnus pompilus|Gronow, 1854 |Naucrates polysarcus|Fowler, 1905 |Naucrates angeli|Whitley, 1931 }} | synonyms_ref = <ref name = Fishbase>{{FishBase|Naucrates|ductor|month=August|year=2019}}</ref> }}
The '''pilot fish''' ('''''Naucrates ductor''''') is a carnivorous fish of the trevally, or jackfish family, Carangidae.<ref>{{cite book |title= Guide to Corals & Fishes of Florida, the Bahamas and the Caribbean |last= Greenberg |first= Idaz |pages= [https://archive.org/details/guidetocoralsfi000gree/page/2 2–3] |publisher= Seahawk Press |year= 1986 |isbn= 0-913008-08-7 |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/guidetocoralsfi000gree/page/2 }}</ref> It is widely distributed and lives in warm or tropical open seas.
==Description== [[File:Carcharhinus longimanus 1.jpg|thumb|left|Pilot fish swimming with an oceanic whitetip shark]]
The pilot fish congregates around sharks, rays, and sea turtles, where it eats ectoparasites 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. |author2=Fechhelm, Janice D. | year = 1998 | publisher = University of Texas Press | isbn = 0-292-70634-0 | page = 287}}</ref> younger pilot fish are usually associated with jellyfish and drifting seaweeds.<ref>{{cite book | title = A Field Guide to Pacific Coast Fishes | url = https://archive.org/details/fieldguidetopaci00will | url-access = registration | last = Eschmeyer | first = William N. |author2=Herald, Earl Stannard | year = 1999 | publisher = Houghton Mifflin Books | isbn = 0-395-26873-7 | page = [https://archive.org/details/fieldguidetopaci00will/page/208 208]}}</ref> They are also known to follow ships, sometimes for long distances; one was found in County Cork, Ireland,<ref>{{cite book | title = The Natural History of Ireland | last = Thompson | first = William | publisher = Reeve, Benham and Reeve | year = 1856 | page = 95 | isbn = 0-900761-45-8}}</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 | publisher = Groombridge & Sons | page = 109}} <!-- volume II, if cite book gets a volume parameter --></ref><ref>{{cite book | title = A History of British Fishes | url = https://archive.org/details/ahistorybritish00yarrgoog | last = Yarrell | first = William | year = 1841 | edition = 2nd. | 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[.] | page = 170}}</ref> Their fondness for ships led early seafarers (Greeks, Romans and their direct descendants) to believe that they would navigate a ship to its desired course.<ref>{{cite book | title = First Steps to Zoology | url = https://archive.org/details/firststepstozoo00pattgoog | last = Patterson | first = Robert | 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. | page = 149}}</ref>
The pilot fish's colour is between dark blue and blackish-silver, with the belly being lighter in colour.<ref>{{cite book | title = A History of the Earth and Animated Nature | last = Goldsmith | first = Oliver | year = 1810 | page = 159}} <!-- volume II --></ref><ref name="Eschmeyer & Herald 1999, p. 208">Eschmeyer & Herald 1999, p. 208.</ref><ref>{{cite book | title = Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea | last = Randall | first = John |author2=Allen, Gerald |author3=Steen, Roger | publisher = University of Hawaii Press | year = 1997 | isbn = 0-8248-1895-4 | page = 164}}</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 silvery-white, with three broad blue patches on its back.<ref>Eschmeyer & Herald, p. 208.</ref> It can be recognised by its five to seven distinctive traverse bands,<ref>Goldsmith 1810, p. 159.</ref> which are of a much darker colour than the rest of the body.<ref name="Eschmeyer & Herald 1999, p. 208"/> 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 | isbn = 0-906301-62-9 | page = 163}} * 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| year = 1865 | publisher = Houlston & Stoneman | page = 50 | isbn = 1-142-00237-3| title-link = Orr's Circle of the Sciences }}. </ref>
The pilot fish is edible<ref>{{cite book|last1=Goadby|first1=Peter|title=Sharks and Other Marine Predators|date=1963|publisher=Jacaranda Press|location=Melbourne|page=22}}</ref><ref>{{ITIS |id=168742 |taxon=Naucrates ductor |accessdate=June 24, 2005}}</ref> and is said to taste good,<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> but it is rarely available due to its erratic behaviour when caught.<ref>{{cite journal | journal = The Geographical Journal | 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. | page = 440 | issue = 5 | doi=10.2307/1782665| jstor = 1782665 | last1 = Dixon | first1 = C. C. | bibcode = 1925GeogJ..66..434D }}</ref>
While pilot fish can be seen with all manner of sharks, they prefer accompanying the oceanic whitetip shark, ''Carcharhinus longimanus''.<ref>{{cite book | title = Sharks of Florida, the Bahamas, the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico | last = Stafford-Deitsch | first = Jeremy | year = 2000 | publisher = Trident Press | isbn = 1-900724-45-6 | page = 32}}</ref> 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 | url = https://archive.org/details/thinkingaboutbio00sweb | url-access = limited | last = Webster | first = Stephen | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 2003 | isbn = 0-521-59059-0 | page = [https://archive.org/details/thinkingaboutbio00sweb/page/n37 24]}}</ref> It was often said by sailors 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 | url = https://archive.org/details/historicalandde02dalrgoog | last = Murray | first = Hugh | author-link= Hugh Murray (geographer) |author2=Wilson, James |author3=Greville, R. K. |author4=Jameson, Robert |author5=Ainslie, Whitelaw |author6=Rhind, William |author7=Wallace, Prof. |author8= Dalrymble, Clarence | year = 1832 | publisher = J. & J. Harper | page = 337}} <!-- 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 | page = 669 | publisher = Psychology Press | isbn = 0-7146-1948-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | title = Some Instances of Supposed Sympathy Among Fishes | journal = The Scientific Monthly |date=March 1929 | volume = 28 | last = Gudger | first = E. W. | page = 267 | issue = 3| bibcode = 1929SciMo..28..266G }}</ref>
It is 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 = 3| date = May 23, 1884 | pages = 623–8 | quote = It seems that Naucrates acts as a guide for the sharks, and that the latter, in recognition of its services, never pursue it. | issue = 68 | pmid=17844329 | doi = 10.1126/science.ns-3.68.623| bibcode = 1884Sci.....3..623. | last1 = Filhol | first1 = H. }}</ref> and smaller pilot fish are frequently observed swimming into sharks' mouths to clean away fragments of food from between their teeth.
== Etymology and metaphors == There are a few possible, conflicting etymologies for the term "pilot fish". One is that seafaring people believed that pilot fish, which would appear around the 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 = 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 | publisher = G.P. Putnam's Sons | year = 1940 | page = 88}}</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 | 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. | page = 400 | publisher = University of Massachusetts Press | isbn = 0-87636-015-0}}</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>
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>{{Cite book | title = Journal of Discourses by Brigham Young | last = Watt | first = G. D. | volume = II | page = 188 | year = 1855 | publisher = F. D. Richards}}</ref> Pilot fish are also used as a metaphor or simile for scavengers or looters which accompany a greater threat.
== In myth == In Greek mythology, a sailor called Pompilus helped the nymph Ocyrhoë when she was fleeing away from the amorous god Apollo. The sailor moved the nymph from Miletus to the island of Samos and the god punished him by changing him into a pilot fish.<ref>Athenaeus, ''Deipnosophistae'' 283e; Aelian, ''De Natura Animalium'' 15.23.</ref>
Pancrates of Arcadia stated that it was a sacred fish in honour to Poseidon and that it was forbidden to eat it. However, a fisherman called Epopeus ate it and paid for his audacity with his life.<ref>Athenaeus, ''Deipnosofistae'' 284a.</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == {{Wikispecies|Naucrates ductor}} {{Americana Poster|year=1920|Pilot-fish}} * [http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/SpeciesSummary.cfm?ID=998 Naucrates ductor] at FishBase * {{SealifePhotos|126811}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q223289}}
Category:Animal taxa named by Carl Linnaeus Category:Fish described in 1758 Category:Naucratinae Category:Pantropical fish