I would like to point out, what I feel is, a misuse of using the Remora in a simile in Ender in Exile. Sorry if this has been brought up before.
First use: "How could he use the opportunity Ender's great victory offered, yet not have it look like he was nothing but a hanger-on, sucking at his brother's fame like a remora?" First is a good use "sucking" seems ok as a remora fish does use its "sucker" on top of its head to attach itself to bigger animals to catch a ride. Freeloading to travel to where food is, food made available later by its transportation.
However, later we see the simile reused in an incorrect way: "The larva rose up and plunged its gaping mouth down on the food like a remora attaching itself to a shark. Sel could imagine a smaller version of the larva being exactly that - a remora, attaching itself to larger creatures to suck the blood out of them. Or to burrow into them?"
Remoras do not suck blood, but do use other creatures energy for traveling great distances. I think the second simile is closer to a lamprey. Lampreys have a sucker mouth construction used to eat blood, contrary to the remora's sucker on top of its head, which is not a mouth/absorption organ. Most lamprey species are freshwater, though my quick research reveals the salt water species does attack basking sharks (large filter feeder sharks).
I felt compelled to post based on the fact that remoras are most likely in my top 10 (maybe 5) favorite fish, sharks being the top.
Hope this is the correct forum as this forum looks to be for posting about the OSC books rather than the more generic Books, Films, Food and Culture forum
Posted by millernumber1 (Member # 9894) on :
That's really interesting. I think a non-symbiotic fish or animal like the lamprey or leech might make more sense.
What makes the lamprey so fascinating to you?
Posted by Jake (Member # 206) on :
Welcome to Hatrack, IonControl. You did indeed pick the right side of the forum for your (quite interesting) post. Thanks for the information!