Talk:Pilot fish

Commensal or Mutualistic
The lead paragraph describes the pilot fish as a "carnivorous commensal fish", but the description section describes at length the mutually beneficial relationships it has with it's "hosts", even specifically saying:


 * The pilot fish's relationship with sharks is a mutualist one; the pilot fish gains protection from predators, while the shark gains freedom from parasites.

This seems contradictory. The | Brittanica online article on commensalism mentions pilot fish, so I'm not sure which way this should go.  cat Parade  15:16, 1 June 2012 (UTC)

Taxobox Picture
I feel that a photo of the actual fish would be better in the taxobox than a drawing.SuperPayara123 (talk) 03:32, 12 September 2014 (UTC)
 * Certainly, though, such a photograph should show the/a fish clearly, which is why the current photograph on the page is not used as the taxobox photo.--Mr Fink (talk) 05:16, 12 September 2014 (UTC)

Surfboard decals - covert advertisement?
In reference to this quote: "These observations have led to the pilot fish's distinctive markings being copied for decals supplied as shark protection for surfboards

Is there evidence this actually works? I thought sharks had poor vision, but after a quick Google search I guess they might have better vision than previously thought.

Anyway, if there are no studies showing this works at a shark deterrent, I feel like we probably shouldn't include it here, otherwise it comes across as a advertising for the company described in the source. In fact I'm leaning toward thinking this might be covert advertisement. If it really does work, a real study would be preferable to a news article promoting a specific product Pythagimedes (talk) 19:57, 30 August 2022 (UTC)