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ones, but it does not command popularity, may be on account of its look
and colour. One more factor for aversion is the bottom dwelling habit, the
gentry not looking with favour on such forms for edible purposes.
Flat fishes, in newly hatched larval stage, are symmetrical and bilateral
with eyes on both sides of the head. At this stage the fish swims vertically.
When it is about an inch and a half in length, the larva undergoes
metamorphosis during which one eye crosses over to the other side, thus
having both eyes on one side which is pigmented, and the other side
becomes white. From this stage onwards, the metamorphosed larva
continues to live at the bottom of the sea, with both eyes on the upper side.
These fishes include in their diet almost all types of animals which
frequent the benthic zone such as small fishes, crustaceans and polychaete
worms.
Our flatfishes are small in size, varying from 6 inches to about 20 inches
in length, though the European halibut, Hippoglossus vulgaris, not found
in our waters, is known to grow to a length of 10 feet and a weight of 600
lbs.
(34) REMORAS OR SUCKER FISHES
Sucker-fishes, which are known as ‘Luchak’ in Bombay, belong to the
family Echeneidae which is represented in waters of Maharashtra by two
species, Echeneis naucrates and Remora remora. These fishes, growing to
a length of 16 to 20 inches, have a structural peculiarity in having on
upper side of the head a suction-disc, a modification of the dorsal fin, with
the help of which they get themselves attached to sharks and ot her larger
oceanic fishes and some times even to the bottom of ships; the power of
adhesion is so great as to require a weight of 24 lbs. to separate them.
Although sharks are ferocious creatures, oddly enough, the Remoras make
a sucker out of a shark. Sharks evidently do not derive any benefit from
these fish; why the shark tolerates the sucker-fish is a marine mystery. The
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