THE EELS 



THE eels of American waters, including 

 those of the deep seas, the electric 

 forms, the congers and the morays, 

 consist of eleven families, fifty-four 

 genera and sub-genera, and ninety-six species and 

 sub-species. They form a distinct order of fishes, 

 under the classification, Apodes, which is from 

 the Greek, meaning literally " without foot," in 

 allusion to the absence of the paired fins, called 

 " ventrals," on the belly of the eel. It is the 

 belief of the most prominent ichthyologist, that 

 this fish is a degraded form of the primitive stock, 

 the result of " long continued and progressive 

 degeneration." In this opinion rod-and-line fish- 

 ermen of the present day promptly concur. 



Of the large number of varietal forms of the 

 eel, but one is a habitant of New England waters, 

 ranging, however, from Maine to Mexico on our 

 eastern coast, and ascending all rivers south of 

 Canada. It is commonly known as the American 

 or fresh-water eel, and technically as Anguilla 

 chrysypa, the generic name being from the Latin, 

 anguilla, "the eel," and the specific from two 

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