Giant Fish 187 



prove septic. The fish is known in many 

 parts of the world as the " mantle fish," 

 it having the reputation of enveloping 

 divers and other victims in its " wings >J 

 as in a mantle. The stories told of its 

 powers of enveloping its prey are open to 

 grave doubt, but there is no question of 

 the damage that it can inflict when 

 descending from a ten-foot leap into a 

 frail row-boat. 



Though apparently monarchs of all they 

 survey, giant sharks and rays have their 

 enemies. The former are liable to be 

 attacked by their own brothers and sis- 

 ters, whilst all kinds of fish nibble at the 

 wings of the latter as they lie in the sand. 

 Sharks are further often much hampered 

 by the remoras or sucking fish, which may 

 attach themselves in companies of twenty 

 or thirty by means of large oval sucking 

 plates situated on their heads, causing 

 the unwilling host to leap out of the water 

 in a vain effort to get rid of the pests. 



