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In Germany the rearing of eels in fresh-water ponds 

 is a wide- spread minor and accessory industry, and is 

 undoubtedly exceedingly profitable, the owners usually 

 marinating their products for local consumption. 



In Northern Europe Gemzoe * has found from a 

 study of the concentric zones marked on the scales that 

 the age at which development of the breeding instinct 

 leads female eels to begin a migration to the sea ranges 

 from 6\ to 8J years, whereas in the male the migratory 

 instinct appears to be developed between 4 and 7J years 

 of age. It should be noted however that three years must 

 be added to the number indicated by the zonal markings, 

 as scales do not appear till two years of sedentary life 

 have elapsed, while if the deductions of Schmidt be 

 correct a third year must be added to cover the pelagic 

 or larval period. Hence the actual age of an eel is 

 three years greater than that of or indicated by the 

 scale. (In deducing age from examination of scale 

 markings, it is necessary to select those close to the 

 lateral line ; these are earliest to appear.) 



The eel is a fish universally esteemed in Europe ; in 

 England although it is less popular than on the 

 Continent yet the local supply falls so far short of the 

 demand that London receives annually large consign- 

 ments from Holland. 



Marinated eels as prepared at Comacchio and 

 throughout Germany form one of the most nutritious 

 and appetizing of preserved foods. Owing to prejudice 

 it would have a restricted consumption in India at the 

 commencement, but it has only to be once tasted to be 

 appreciated and, as a food and a luxury for the well-to-do, 

 it should attain popularity in spite of prejudice. How- 

 ever if a large and regular supply can be depended on, 

 local demand is not essential to success. If barrelled 

 and tinned as at Comacchio, an export trade to Australia 

 and Central Europe should be profitable as there the 

 demand is normally in excess of the supply — a demand 

 that increases annually in pace with the fecundity of 

 the German race, whereas the supply lacks elasticity and 

 corresponding increase. 



* Age and Rate of Growth of the eel ; Report of the Danish Biological 

 Station to the Board of Agriculture, XIV, 1906, Copenhagen, 1908. 



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