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I was to act the part of best man, and, as far as I could understand it, my principal duty seemed to be to fix myself to the groom like a sucking-fish, and never allow him to have a moment to himself, or the slightest particle of peace.
Turtles of many hundreds' weight could be taken in this way; for the pull upon the remora being towards the tail, and therefore in a backward direction, the sucking-fish could not be detached, unless by the most violent straining.
One day, some of us, while walking the poop, had our attention directed to a sucking-fish, about two and a half feet in length, which had been made fast by the tail to a billet of wood, by a fathom or so of spun-yarn, and turned adrift.
Still a few are remembered; such as the yellow-tailed snapper, striped snapper, pork-fish, angel-fish, cat-fish, hound-fish, the grouper, sucking-fish, and so on. Both harbor and deep sea fishing afford the visitor to Nassau excellent amusement, and many sportsmen go thither annually from New York solely for its enjoyment.
While swimming it propels itself by rapid lateral movements of the tail, executed awkwardly and with a tortuous motion. It is itself preyed upon by other fish, diodons and albacores; but the shark is merciful to it, as to the pilot-fish, and never interferes with it. Sucking-fish are occasionally seen of a pure white colour associating with the black ones, and also attending upon the shark.
"Suckin'-fish," was Ben's laconic answer. "A sucking-fish! I never heard of one before. Why is it so-called?" "Because it sucks," replied the sailor. "Sucks what?" "Sharks. Didn't you see it suckin' at this 'un afore I pulled it from the teat? Ha! ha! ha!" "Surely it wasn't that, Ben?" said the lad, mystified by Ben's remark. "Well, boy, I an't, going to bamboozle ye.
The slow and prowling movements of the white shark, render it particularly eligible for the purposes of the sucking-fish, either as a resting-place or a means of conveyance from place to place; and it is well-known that the shark is usually attended by several of these singular satellites.
These concoctions were publicly sold at Rome, their ingredients consisting of herbs of various kinds, in the culling and testing of which the shepherds were often employed. The remora, or sucking-fish, certain bones of the frog, the astroit, or star-fish, and the hippomanes were also used.
Columbus, on approaching the shore, entered a river, of which the water was so warm that the hand could not remain in it, a fact evidently of exaggeration, and one which later researches have not authenticated. The fishermen of this coast employed a certain fish called the Remora or sucking-fish, "which fulfilled for them the same office as the dog does for the hunter.
He told about the famous Sucking-Fish, or Remora, which has a wonderful flat apparatus on its head by which it sticks to any object, fish, rock, or ship to which it attaches itself, and once fixed it is impossible to make it loose its hold. The natives in Africa use this fish to catch turtles with. They tie a long, stout string to the Remora, and throw the fish overboard.
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