294 SEVENTH REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



In Cayuga Lake, N. Y., according to Dr. Meek, the eel is not common, but is 

 occasionally taken at the end of the lake. 



W. H. Ballou makes the following remarks about the feeding habits: 

 "They are among the most voracious and carnivorous fishes. They eat most 

 inland fishes except the gar and the chub. They are particularly fond of game 

 fishes, and show the delicate taste of a connoisseur in their selections from choice 

 trout, bass, pickerel and shad. On their hunting excursions they overturn huge and 

 small stones alike, working for hours if necessary, beneath which they find species of 

 shrimp and crayfish, of which they are exceedingly fond. They are among the most 

 powerful and rapid of swimmers. They attack the spawn of other fishes open- 

 mouthed, and are even said to suck the eggs from an impaled female. They are 

 owl-like in their habits, committing their depredations at night." 



37. Conger {Leptoccplialus conger Linnaeus). 



Murana conger Linn-EUS, Syst. Nat., ed. X, I, 245, 1758. 



Conger occidentalis DeKay, N. Y. Fauna, Fishes, 314, pi. 53, fig. 172, 1842, very poor. 

 Leptocephalus conger Goode, Fish & Fish. Ind. U. S., I, pi. 240, 1884; Jordan & Ever- 

 MAWN, Bull. 47, U. S. Nat. Mus., I, 354, 1896, pi. VII, fig. 148, 1900. 



CONGER. 



The Conger Eel occurs on both coasts of the Atlantic, on our coast extending 

 from Cape Cod to Brazil, but often coming into shallow bays. An exception is 

 noted in Great Egg Harbor Bay, where the fish is not rare in summer. It is some- 

 times caught in Gravesend Bay also in summer, and occasional individuals are cap- 

 tured on hand lines off Southampton, L. I., by men fishing for sea bass and scup. 

 The fishermen dislike to handle the species on account of its pugnacity and strength ; 

 it snaps viciously at everything near it when captured in our waters; yet, strangely 

 enough, the writer has seen a hundred or more taken on trawl lines off the north 

 coast of France, in a boat at one time, and not one gave evidence of ferocity. 



\\\ captivity in the aquarium the sea eel suffers severely from fungus attacks, 



