the.com/remora
nature's hitchhiker that turned a sucker on its head into first-class travel.
means A slender fish with a flattened, sucker-like disc on top of its head, which it uses to attach itself to sharks, turtles, whales, and ships for a free ride and scraps of food.
from Straight from Latin 'remora,' meaning 'delay' or 'hindrance' (from 're-' back + 'mora' delay) — because ancient sailors believed these clinging fish could grip a ship's hull and slow it to a standstill. Pliny the Elder told of a remora halting a warship; the Greeks called it 'echeneis,' literally 'ship-holder.' Real physics, of course, says a few small fish can't stop a vessel — but the myth christened the creature forever.
- head suction
- its dorsal fin evolved into a ridged suction disc
- shark crew
- rides hosts, eating their scraps and parasites
- grip strength
- holds tighter as the host swims faster
- ancient hooks
- fishermen tied lines to them to catch turtles
remora fish — echeneis naucrates, attaches to sharks and whales via suction disc on head
remora iii spacecraft — nasa spaceplane concept from 1960s for orbital recovery missions