The Sharks— Part Two 361 



which grows to about 3 feet, is usually found on sharks in warm seas. 

 Another (Remora reiJiora) reaches a length of IV2 feet. A third (Remora 

 brachyptera), which grows to about 1 foot in length, has been found 

 attached to swordfish. It also reportedly frequents the mouths and the 

 gill cavities of larger sharks. Remoras have also been found attached 

 to Manta rays, sunfish, sea turtles, whales, and even ships. Remoras do 

 not freeload all the time. Hauled by a shark into a school of small fish, 

 a remora sometimes will detach itself and go off hunting on its own. 

 But it hurries back. 



Christopher Columbus reported seeing natives in the New World 

 using a strange fish that was tethered on a line and sent out to attach 

 itself to a sea turtle, which was then hauled in on the tether. The 

 natives were using a remora to fish with. In some parts of Australia and 



Remoras are used for hunting by native fishermen from Australia to Central America. 

 Natives in Zanzibar attach a leash to a coupling on the tail ( as shown in the illus- 

 tration). The Remora then seeks out a large host-fish and, when it firmly attaches 

 itself, the fisherman pulls in the leash— with the Remora and the big fish it is stuck to. 



After Holmwood 



China, in Zanzibar and Mozambique, the technique is still used by 

 native fishermen. In Madagascar, native sorcerers place dried pieces of 

 the remora's disk about the neck of an unfaithful wife so that she will 

 return to her poor husband— and stick to him. 



The Pilot fish {Naiicrates duct or), the zebra-striped little companion 

 of the shark, has no family relationship to the remora or the shark, and 

 gets its name from its habit of darting ahead of a shark as it approaches 

 prey. This habit led to stories about how the tiny pilot leads the great 

 shark around, as a seeing-eye dog leads a blind man. 



The shark needs no pilot to guide it, but the Pilot fish certainly 

 uses, if not needs, the shark. Like the remora, the Pilot fish feeds on the 

 scraps from the shark's table. But it is not equipped to attach itself to 

 the shark. Instead, several Pilot fish swim in front of the shark, often 

 within inches of its jaws, appearing to ride a minute pressure wave 

 set up by the big fish, or else maintain an almost constant position near 

 the shark's pectoral fins. 



When a shark is caught, the Pilot fish skitter off, if they have time 

 to escape, and immediately seek another shark. But, the association of 

 Pilot fish and shark is a curiously intimate one. A sober scientist noted 

 that, though Pilot fish occasionally may dart away from their shark to get 



