Few weeks ago, during the course of an early evening radio talk-show, of magazine type, three or four very interesting guys disclosed the novelty for me of a mythological fish who was used to attached itself to the hull of the boats and prevent them from sailing. Indeed, the first question that these three pundits were asking to the young announcers and presenters was this: "do you know what a remora is?
In Spanish, almost everybody knows that a remora is a "burden", quite often used as a synonym of "ballast". However, only quite a few might know that remora is the name of a fish: Echeneida or, popularly, the sucker-fish.
One, two, three, the three pundits pointed out several cases of historical documents that underline the capability of these fishes to suck themselves in the hull of a boat and make it useless for navigation. For example, it is in the chronicles of Pliny the Younger and accounted in the Treasure of the Spanish Language (1611) by Sebastian de Covarrubias.
The question is whether this is or not at all possible. The pundits could not believe it would and I guess that no sage little-learned in Hydrodynamics would. However, I am inclined to believe that these fishes, variable in size (from about 15 cm to 1 meter), with a remarkable sucker on top of their head, could somehow affect the hydrodynamic of primitive vessels and make the sailing or the steering difficult. I can imagine the rotten wooden keels of the nutshells that conformed the fleets of the Ancient Times infested of crustaceans and mollusks, all entangled in algae and, why not, remoras. It is easy to imagine the precarious ships of the past at the mercy of the winds... And the waters.
Of course, no one knew anything about Hydrodynamics at the time... It just makes sense to me.
Remora: the sucker on its head makes it look like swimming upside down when attached to another fish.
(PLEASE, LEAVE YOUR COMMENT).
In Spanish, almost everybody knows that a remora is a "burden", quite often used as a synonym of "ballast". However, only quite a few might know that remora is the name of a fish: Echeneida or, popularly, the sucker-fish.
One, two, three, the three pundits pointed out several cases of historical documents that underline the capability of these fishes to suck themselves in the hull of a boat and make it useless for navigation. For example, it is in the chronicles of Pliny the Younger and accounted in the Treasure of the Spanish Language (1611) by Sebastian de Covarrubias.
The question is whether this is or not at all possible. The pundits could not believe it would and I guess that no sage little-learned in Hydrodynamics would. However, I am inclined to believe that these fishes, variable in size (from about 15 cm to 1 meter), with a remarkable sucker on top of their head, could somehow affect the hydrodynamic of primitive vessels and make the sailing or the steering difficult. I can imagine the rotten wooden keels of the nutshells that conformed the fleets of the Ancient Times infested of crustaceans and mollusks, all entangled in algae and, why not, remoras. It is easy to imagine the precarious ships of the past at the mercy of the winds... And the waters.
Of course, no one knew anything about Hydrodynamics at the time... It just makes sense to me.
(PLEASE, LEAVE YOUR COMMENT).
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