Remora brachyptera) which attaches itself to the swordfish.
The Indian lets go the line, to which a buoy is attached to mark the course the remora has taken, and follows in his canoe until he thinks the game is exhausted; he then draws it gradually in, the remora still adhering to his prey.
When the remora perceives a fish, which he can do at a considerable distance, he darts away with astonishing rapidity, and fastens upon it.
In calm weather, they carried out those which they had kept and fed for the purpose, in their canoes, and when they had got to a sufficient distance, attached the remora to the head of the canoe by a strong line of considerable length.
Remora won, it would be too cold for him to draw near the place, and cut off the Firedrake's head and tail.
But the flat, cruel head writhed backwards, and, slowly bending over on itself, the wounded Remora slid greedily to fasten again on the limbs of the Firedrake.
Presently they sounded more like groans; and at last the Remora slipped up his legs above the knees, and fastened on his very heart of fire.
Encouraged by this advice, the white, slippery Remora streamed out of his cavern again, more and more of him uncoiling, as if the mountain were quite full of him.
For it was one thing to egg on a Remora to kill a Firedrake, and quite another to find the princes if they were alive, and restore them if they were dead!
Still, he was alarmed when he saw that the vast flat body of the Remora was now slowly coiling backwards, backwards, into the cleft below the hill; while a thick wet mist showed how cruelly it had suffered.
The wounded Remora curled back his head again on himself, and again crawled, steaming terribly, towards his enemy.
But, fast as the Remora stole forward, the Firedrake came quicker yet, flying and clashing his fiery wings.
Then the Firedrake stood groaning like a black bull, knee-deep in snow; and still the Remora climbed and climbed.
He hated the Remora so much, that he almost wished the Firedrake could beat it; for the Firedrake was the more natural beast of the pair.
But when he had looked on for half-an-hour, and only a river ran where the Remora had been, while the body of the Firedrake lay stark and cold, he hurried to the spot.
There they were in a moment, among the old knights whom, if you remember, the Remora had frozen into stone.
When the Remora heard the name of the Firedrake, his hated enemy, he slipped with wonderful speed from the cleft of the mountain into the valley.
The hill of the Remora was one solid mass of frozen steel, and the cold rushed out of it like the breath of some icy beast, which indeed it was.
The mighty prowess ascribed to the remora is imaginary, and the electrical capacity of the torpedo greatly exaggerated.
The story of halcyon, cramp-fish, and remora are all in Book ii.
The cramp-fish, remora what secret charm To stop the bark, arrest the distant arm?
When the Remora finds a turtle it presses its head tightly against it, sticks fast, and both are hauled up together Sometimes the Remora will lift a turtle weighing many pounds.
Why the sucking fish Echineis or the Remora should stay ships has been variously treated by Philosophers, who are often accustomed to fit this fable (as many others) to their theories, before they find out whether the thing is so in nature.
Mr. Holder wrote years ago that the remora sticks to a fish just to be carried along, as a means of travel, but I do not incline to this belief.
When a shark seizes his prey, and is cutting it up with his terrible teeth, the remora is quick to discover any fragments of the feast and profits by it, when it again returns to its anchorage.
Sidenote: As a Fishing Device] The remora is easily removed from its attachment by a quick, sliding motion, but resists a direct pull to a remarkable degree.
Pliny assures us that the remora was used in the preparation of a philtre capable of extinguishing the flames of love.
They pass through the tail of the remora a ring to which a cord is attached, and then send it in pursuit of the first passer-by which they consider worthy to be caught.
The remora is simply anchored to his host, and asks from him nothing but his passage.
It is to be noted that the fishermen see the turtle near by before they dispatch their living grapple, and it is doubtful whether the remora has any notion of what it is doing.
The remora will make a bee line for the turtle and attach itself firmly to the shell so tenaciously that both animals may be dragged to the boat.
The louse-fish (Phtheirichthys lineatus) is a small and slender remora having but 10 plates in its disk.
A fossil remora is described from the Oligocene shales in Glarus, Switzerland, under the name of Opisthomyzon glaronensis.
Many strange tales have been related of the remora being able to stop a ship when in full sail, as well as performing other prodigies of valour; but in this age of wisdom all such statements are deservedly regarded as fables.
By these means the remora fixes itself so firmly to the back of the shark that no effort of that animal can dislodge it.
A remora was caught by the crew of a small vessel on board of which I was passenger.
Another Remora doth perhaps forcibly lie in the way, which is my son the Lord Herbert’s underhand working by false suggestions; but I shall soon blow them over.
I examined a remoraof the South Sea during the passage from Lima to Acapulco.
It is doubtless the fear of danger that causes the remora not to loose his hold when he feels that he is pulled by a cord or by the hand of man.
