It can be free-swimming, or can attach itself to a host fish or turtle by means of a sucker on the back of the head.

The dorsal surface of the fish is dark brown to black, as is a broad longitudinal lateral stripe which extends from the eye through the pectoral fin to the caudal peduncle.

[3][4] This fish occurs in the subtropical western Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, within an area bounded by 43°N and 4°N, and 98°W and 51°W that stretches from Massachusetts to the northern coast of South America, including the Bahamas and the Antilles.

[5] Echeneis neucratoides is sometimes free-swimming, but at other times attaches itself with its sucker to a host animal such as a shark, other large fish or turtle.

[6] Remoras often feed on scraps of food discarded by their hosts, and may also consume the parasitic copepods on their skin.