394 FISHES. 



regarded by the trawling men — so, at least, they aver — 

 as the young of the common sole, as to have gained 

 thereby some fame which would not otherwise 

 o ene e. j^^^^ belonged to it. In colour this fish is of 

 a yellowish grey, having numerous small dark spots, as 

 well as black lines at intervals on the fins. 



CHAPTER XVII. THE EELS. 



Of eels we have, besides the murry (a straggler), tw^o, the 

 fresh-water eel and the conger. The eel-pout and sand-eel 

 are of course distinct. The female of both our eels is 

 always the larger, and the so-called species of river eel are 

 only the different sexes. Considerable mystery surrounded 

 the breeding of both eel and conger, and only lately has 

 the difficulty been solved by Italian biologists. 



The Common Eel, its small scales embedded so as to 



give the impression of a scaleless fish, is one of our most 



familiar fishes. In colour it is screen or brown 

 Eel 



above, yellow or white beneath ; the upper jaw 



protrudes ; the eyes and teeth are of small size. The female 

 — the so called "Sharp-nosed" eel — exceeds a length of 

 3 feet ; the male — the " Broad-nosed " eel of some authors 

 — has not been recorded as measuring quite 20 inches. 

 Like the flounder, this fish descends in autumn to spawn 

 in the sea, and it seems certain that it dies after spawn- 

 ing, as the adult fish are not seen reascending the rivers 

 like the elvers at the end of winter. I have taken 

 numbers of females in August off" the east breakwater 

 at Hastings, which are known to work westward along 

 the rocky foreshore from Ilye Harbour. Elvers, as the 

 young are called, are also known to cross fields of damp 



