THE FISH THAT CLINGS TO A WHALE

Evening Star, Issue 21636, 3 February 1934, Page 5

THE FISH THAT CLINGS TO A WHALE

What is called a sucking fish has been caught in a net from off Bishop’s Rock, Land’s End, by the trawler Sea Hawk, and taken to the Marine Laboratory at Plymouth. This is a peculiarly formed fish, rare in these waters, provided with a large oval sucker on the top of its head by means of which it adheres to whales, large fishes (usually sharks), and even to boats.

It is this habit of clinging to the bottom of boats which has given rise to the ancient belief that this fish (known as the Remora) had magical properties, being able by its clinging weight to lessen the pace of the vessel. There are many old legends on this subject, the best known being the story of a sucker-fish clinging to Mark Antony’s ship when he and Cleopatra were defeated at the Battle of Actium by Augustus. The admiral’s ship, we are told, had to be abandoned by him on account of the delay. Another story tells how one of these fishes held back a boat of 400 oars belonging to Cains Caligula. The suckerfish was supposed to be unlucky, especially if one met it when one was in a hurry. The present specimen is rather more than a foot long, dark greyish-brown, the back fin modified as the largo sucker which is armed with plate-like ridges and has a soft membraneous rim, the whole apparatus making a very effective adhering organ by forming a vacuum. It is seldom that one comes into the Channel, as it prefers the open sea, and likes to cling to big sharks, the bigger the better. It will leave a small fish to change to a larger one. It usually holds on to tho gills, sometimes one on each side, it snoots quickly off its host to get food, usually small fishes, and can be caught by a hook embedded in fat, or will cat scraps thrown out from a ship. It can swim fast bv a wriggling motion, and it is said that it swims on its back.

In Last Africa the natives fish for turtles with a large eel-like sucker-fish from two to four feet long, putting an iron ring round the tail. The hold is enormously strong, and quite a small hsh can support a bucket of water. They are difficult to detach even in death, although they can let go their hold voluntarily very quickly. An American species attaches itself to sea bass as well as to sharks as many as four on one fish sometimes’ being seen. There is a true story that a sucker-fish in the Bahamas clung to a man bathing. As it was difficult to detach he swam for shore, and it was only as be landed that he could shake it off. Lven then it swam about near him, a most unwelcome companion.