64 



MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN 



VOL. XIV, 



{Auouilla vulgaris) and of similar habits. The form is snake-like, 

 but unlike the snake, a distinct fin membrane runs like a crest along 

 the greater part of the back and also on the under side of the tail. 

 A little fin is also found on each side just behind the gill open- 

 ing. The life-history of eels is perhaps the most wonderful of any 

 known among fishes. The baby eel is hatched out in deep 

 water far away from land and at first is a transparent pellucid little 

 thing quite different from the adult. As it grows it gradually 

 makes for the land ; at last it reaches the mouth of some river 

 together with multitudes of its fellows. By this time it has taken 

 on something of the adult form, — a little wire-like fish and is now 

 called an elver. In certain river estuaries these elvers congregate 

 in their season in enormous numbers, all looking for some likely 

 stream up which to swim. Although born in the sea, they now 

 seek to pass inland till eventually they may be found in brooks 

 and ponds, hundreds of miles from the sea. Gradually increasing 

 in size the elvers change into the well-known olive brown snake- 

 like eel and in this condition remain for several years. Sooner or 

 later a new instinct arises, a desire to leave the quiet inland home 

 and pass down to the sea regardless of all hazards. Simultane- 

 ously a brighter livery is assumed, the dark olive brown changing 

 to a lovely golden yellow — a veritable bridal garment. 



KiG. I — Two common Madras Muiaenids. 



Reaching the coast, the adult eels swim out to sea and there 

 complete their life-cycle, by spawning. Presumably the old eels 

 die thereafter, for no adult eel ever returns to the shallow waters 

 near the land or to the rivers where it spent its earlier years. Only 

 in 1920 were the breeding grounds discovered. Dr. J. Schmidt of 

 Copenhagen, who has devoted many years of his life to this quest, 

 at last succeeded and found them away on the far side of the 



