20 
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 
1 SAND SHARK WITH SHARK-SUCKER ATTACHED 
Photograph by El win R. Sanborn. 
the deep sea” and how quickly it makes the 
shift. 
When first placed in the shark tank the 
sucker attached itself almost instantly to a 
young nurse shark about three feet long, with 
most unexpected results. This sluggish, bot¬ 
tom dwelling shark, a species not utilized by 
shark suckers so far as known, became wildly 
excited and made such furious charges about 
the tank that the shark-sucker let go and at¬ 
tached itself to the sand shark, which paid no 
attention to it and with which it remained per¬ 
manently. For some weeks it attached itself 
to the head and back of the shark, riding there 
belly up, but later changed its position, re¬ 
maining underneath the shark frequently swim¬ 
ming there without holding on. 
The alert and active pilot-fishes being unable 
to take care of themselves in a tank containing 
two sand sharks, they, with the larger shark 
and its sucker, were transferred to a much 
roomier tank where they appear to be safe. 
They immediately grouped themselves in the 
rear or to one side of their ancient but danger¬ 
ous associate and do not seem at all disposed 
to move in advance of his ugly jaws. 
The shark-sucker having nothing to fear 
from the pilots, and with no other shark to 
dodge, doubtless leads as care-free a life as his 
tribe can be expected to lead, considering the 
kind of leadership he elects to follow. 
Put a shark-sucker in any tank containing a 
shark, and his first move is to get as close to 
the nearest shark as possible in the quickest 
possible time. His mother brought him up in 
shark society and there he is pleased to return 
even after months of absolute safety in a tank 
by himself, with nothing exciting at hand and 
nothing to do but apply his suction disc to the 
unresponsive wall of the tank. It was a dull 
life. Allah designed him for the red field of 
danger. 
The pilots evidently feel much as the shark- 
sucker does about the change. Life is more 
interesting even if not so safe. They follow 
their leader with the persistence of the dog— 
it can hardly be called fidelity—and remain 
with him in adversity. I have several times 
seen a group of pilots clustered beneath a 
shark caught at sea and hauled against the side 
of the U. S. Fisheries Steamer Albatross, and 
captured with a net drawn around them by one 
of the ship’s boats, all remaining close to the 
struggling monster while the wide ocean in¬ 
vited escape. It would be interesting to know 
where shark-suckers deposit their eggs, and at 
■what age newly hatched suckers develop their 
clinging discs, but the books are silent. 
