Honeycomb cow fish extremely irritated with unwanted sucker fish

Honeycomb cowfish are adorable, but very unusual fish that can be found cruising along the reefs in most tropical waters. They are clumsy swimmers, with a body that is triangular in shape, and seemingly much too large for their tail. They are flat-bottomed and have rigid, inflexible bodies. Most of the propulsion is actually done by their pectoral fins. Watch them move, they resemble triangular balloons that float through the water rather than swim like most fish. They have small, round mouths that they use to shoot a jet of water into the sand to uncover small creatures such as crabs or shrimp, their preferred diet. Their faces are highly unusual and they have small horn-like protrusions from their fore head, which is how they came ti be called cow fish.

As expected, their pattern resembles the combs found in a honeybee hive. They are able to change color and contrast to help blend in with their surroundings. Once camouflaged, they may remain motionless until the threat has gone.

The fish that is swimming under and around this cow fish is a baby remora. Bothersome fish, they are agile and persistent. They latch onto almost any larger fish to allow them to travel without expending their own energy. They attach with powerful suckers that are on the top of their heads. They are comfortable being attached sideways, or on top of another fish or turtle, but they prefer to be attached to the underside of their host so that they are upright. Difficult to dislodge, the remora will stay on a host for weeks or months if they are so inclined. They can detach at will to swim briefly away to get scraps of food. They are also known to eat the feces of their host animals. They can swim quickly back to their host and reattach to await the next feeding opportunity.
It is rare to see such a small remora, and equally rare to see one trying to attach to such a small host. It seems to be having difficulty finding a large enough surface to attach to and it swims rapidly around the slower moving cow fish, causing obvious annoyance. The cow fish flinches and tries to put on rapid bursts of speed, but it will not rid itself of the remora.

Rays, turtles and fish will often swim close to another large animal in the hope that their remoras will abandon them for a more tempting host. Although they use suction and do not cause injury to the host creature, they create obvious water drag and can be irritating. This is made even worse when a remora such as this one swims around the face and eyes of the creature that it is trying to attach to.