120 THE LIFE OF PHILIP HENRY GOSSE. 



tcred a moment up the side of the vessel, and then flew 

 gaily back to her home in Cayo Boca. 



When they were fairly in the Gulf of Mexico, creeping . 

 past the Tortugas, numbers of sharks were swimming 

 round and under the vessel, accompanied by a multitude 

 of what they at first supposed to be young ones of the 

 same species. As one or two rose to the surface, however, 

 they turned out to be remoras, or sucking-fish. The men 

 struck first one and then another of these curious creatures 

 with a barbed spear, and secured them alive. These 

 specimens my father thus describes : — 



"They are about two feet in length, very slender, 

 " slippery, not covered with scales, but a sort of long flat 

 " prickles, concealed under the skin, but causing a rough- 

 " ness when rubbed against the grain. The colour is blue- 

 " grey above, and whitish beneath ; the tips or edges of 

 " all the fins, and of the tail, light blue. The tail is not 

 "wedge-shaped, but slightly forked. The under lip 

 " projects beyond the upper, so that the mouth opens on 

 "the upper surface, as that of the shark does on the 

 " lower. The sucker is a long oval, slightly narrower in 

 " front, having a central, longitudinal ridge and twenty- 

 " four transverse ones, which can either be made to 

 "lie down flat, or be erected, not however perpendicu- 

 " larly, but inclined backward ; the pectoral and ventral 

 " fins are of the same shape and size, as are the dorsal 

 " and anal. . . . While at liberty they were in close 

 " attendance on the shark, one or two on each side, 

 "generally just over his pectoral fins, and keeping their 

 " relative position, turning as he turned ; sometimes they 

 "appeared belly upward, adhering to the fin of the 

 "shark, at others they seemed loose. Numbers, how- 

 " ever, were in their company without so closely follow- 

 ing them. Now, in captivity the sucker adheres to 



