Suckerfish are diving headfirst into unsuspecting manta rays' rear-ends

It's not clear why the fish do this, but it might be very uncomfortable for the rays.

Suckerfish are not always considerate.

Suckerfish, or remoras, hitchhike on larger animals like sharks and whales, eating parasites in return for the ride. They also do this with manta rays.

But new research suggests that having a remora might not be good for manta rays.

A researcher said the fish go into the manta ray's rear-end, which could be very uncomfortable. The researcher's name is Emily Yeager.

Yeager is studying this phenomenon, which is called 'cloacal diving'.

Cloacal diving means the fish goes into its host's cloaca, a multi-purpose opening.

This has been seen with whale sharks, but not with manta rays before. It's a new discovery.

Researchers saw this happen seven times in 15 years, but think it happens more often.

The fish might be hiding in the manta ray's rear-end, which is hard to see. They really wedge themselves in.

Yeager thinks the remora might be scared. In one video, a diver startles a remora, which then jumps into the manta ray.

The manta ray shudders after the remora jumps in. Then it keeps swimming.

You can watch a video of this.

Another researcher, Brooke Flammang, thinks the remora might be looking for food.

The behavior is called coprophagy, which means eating poop.

Flammang says remoras aren't usually scared of divers. They might even attach to humans.

The remora might be trying to get food before another remora does.

Remoras can be territorial about their space on a host.

Flammang isn't surprised by this behavior.

She says remoras are just weird.

We don't know how the manta ray feels, but it's probably not good.

Remoras can hurt their hosts with their suction cups.

If they do this in the cloaca, it could cause severe damage and affect reproduction and waste.

If cloacal diving hurts the manta ray, it changes how we see the relationship between the two species.

The relationship is usually seen as symbiotic or commensal, but this complicates things.

Yeager says relationships in nature are not always simple and might exist on a spectrum.

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