English Name: Pilot fish
Family: CARANGIDAE
Local Name: Kafihi mas
Order: Perciformes
Size: Common to 35 cm; max. 70cm
Specimen: MRS/P0l83/88
Distinctive Characters: First dorsal fin with 4-5 separate spines, second dorsal with I spine and 25-29 rays. Anal fin with 2 detached spines followed by I spine and 15-17 rays. Body elongate, shallow and barely compressed. Caudal peduncle without scutes but with a long fleshy keel on each side.
Colour: Silver-grey with 6-7 blue black bars. White tips to caudal lobes, and also on soft dorsal and anal lobes, most of fins dusky to dark.
Habitat and Biology: Primarily pelagic in oceanic waters. Occurs solitary, in pairs or in groups. Juveniles drift with seaweed and jellyfish. Shows pilot behaviour.
Distribution: Circumtropical.
Remarks: Naucrates ductor has a semi-obligate commensal relationship with large sharks. rays and other fishes, turtles and also ships and drift wood.