THE SUCKING FISH 213 



the first dorsal fin. When the Sucking Fish desires to travel 

 and see the sea-world, it hunts up the nearest shark, swims 

 alongside from the rear, claps its head to the shark's side, 

 and sticks fast. The faster the shark glides though the 

 water, the more tightly clings the automatic tramp. Like 

 a passenger in a Pullman sleeping-car, the Remora can bid 

 the world good-night and go to sleep, serenely confident that 

 he will get on in the world, even while he sleeps. It is as if a 

 human tramp were provided by Nature with means enabling 

 him to cling automatically and comfortably to the side of a 

 moving freight-car, instead of walking in dust and sorrow 

 upon the ties. 



The Remora is not a large fish, its usual length being 

 under 2 feet. Not only is it a parasite of sharks and 

 other large fishes, but it attaches itself to the sides of ships. 

 It is said that sometimes sharks actually become emaciated 

 through prolonged labor in furnishing free transportation for 

 lusty Remoras. The parasite is himself a good swimmer, 

 and the best reason assignable for its strange habit in clinging 

 to sharks is its desire to gather in fragments of the feast when 

 the latter makes an important killing. The Remora is an 

 inhabitant of our Atlantic coast, the Gulf of Mexico, and the 

 West Indies generally, but it is not considered a food fish. 



