In the Caribbean Sea, orcas (Orcinus orca, also known as killer whales) are present throughout the year. The most recent review confirmed seven strandings of the species in the Caribbean Sea in the period May 1851 to January 2023, all of which were single strandings and only one of which occurred in Venezuela. In this publication we document the circumstances of the successful rescue, by local fishers and authorities, of seven orcas that stranded in August 2023 on the coast of the State of Sucre, north-eastern Venezuela. Worldwide, this is only the second mass stranding of the species within the tropics (23.5°N to 23.5°S). We also documented the presence of a probable whalesucker (Remora australis) on a juvenile orca. The present case represents the first mass stranding event of orcas in Venezuela and the Caribbean Sea and only the second in a tropical location worldwide.

During a photo-identification survey for a study of area use and social organization of marine tucuxi dolphins (Sotalia guianensis) in an estuarine area in south-eastern Brazil, a remora or discfish was recorded attached to one dolphin in a group of 25. The record place (water salinity 28 psu at the record time) is about 23 km from the closest connection between the estuary and the open sea. The discfish was identified as a sharksucker (Echeneis naucrates). This is the first record of a remora on a marine tucuxi dolphin. Besides adding a new host to the cetacean species which are known to carry remoras, our record strengthens the recent suggestion that sharksuckers use coastal dolphins as hosts.

The sharksucker, Echeneis naucrates, attaches to a variety of hosts including teleost fish, elasmobranchs, marine turtles, and mammals. We list 18 additional hosts not previously recorded for this species, including the first report of its attachment to a conspecific and review the possible role of the relationship between echeneid fish and their hosts. The attachment of E. naucrates to a conspecific represents an addition to known hosts for this species, but it remains unclear if remoras are a habitual host for conspecifics.