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In the immortal¹ words of Michael Corleone in The Godfather, Part II, "My father always taught me: keep your friends close, and your enemies closer." Perhaps no creature has taken this advice more literally² then the remora, also known as the sucker fish.

As the official ocean survival manual clearly states: "Upon spotting a shark, flee, unless you also happen to be a shark." Or a remora. When a shark approaches, not only does the remora not flee--it swims right up to the shark, finds a nice comfortable spot, and attaches itself with a suction cup located on the top of its head.

Why, you may be wondering, would any fish want to be so close to a predator³? If remoras could talk, they would calmly explain something called commensalism--a relationship where one species benefits from proximity⁴ to the other without harming or helping⁵ the other species. In this case, remoras benefit from riding on sharks without doing the sharks any harm.

The remora benefits package is very attractive. First, as long as a remora is attached to a shark, who's going to give it any trouble? Next, sharks are very sloppy⁶ eaters, often leaving plenty of delectable⁷ morsels⁸ floating around. While the shark is preoccupied⁹ with the main course, the remora slips off, gobbles some scraps¹⁰, and then reattaches until the next meal.

Remoras aren't picky. They'll also attach to whales, tuna, and rays, so long as there's a free meal involved. In any case, they've developed a survival technique that would make any Godfather proud.