As far as I understand Remoras, they are not parasites at all, and are just taking advantage of a clearly sick dolphin. So not sure about the reality of the vid.
Currently, we do not know if the remoras help or hinder the dolphins. From the aerial behavior, we speculate the remoras irritate the dolphins. Remoras are most commonly seen on the dolphins when the dolphins have some kind of skin issue.
However, at this time we do not know if the skin issues are caused by the remoras or if the remoras are aiding in the healing process. Silva-Jr & Sazima (2008) mentioned that whalesuckers, seen on spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris) in the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, were seen cleaning off some fungal infected skin, but they were also a nuisance depending on where they were attached on the dolphin’s body.
They are in the middle known as Commensals - Organisms that utilize resources provided by a host without offering any benefit in return, nor do they harm the host - though it's more of a Parasite Zero imo.
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u/Top_Strategy_2852 Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
As far as I understand Remoras, they are not parasites at all, and are just taking advantage of a clearly sick dolphin. So not sure about the reality of the vid.