REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 71 



die after spawning. (For a general summary of the life history of the 



eel and reference to the most important modem work on the subject, 



see Gill, 1908, and Tracy, 1908.) 

 Food: The eel is an excellent scavenger, eating all kinds of dead animal 



matter. It also feeds on small fishes, shrimp, crabs, molluscs, worms, 



etc. 

 Size: Four or five feet. Young taken when ice breaks up in the spring, 



one to one and a half inches long. Professor Jenks found specimens 2^ 



inches long April 19th. 

 References: 



1864: Gill, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila. 



1881 : GooDE, Bull. U. S. Fish Com., I., 71. 



1886: Delarge, Compte, Rendu. CIII, 690. 



1897: McIntosh and Masterman, British Marine Food Fishes, 434. 



1908: Gill, Science, N. S. XXVIII, 845. 



1908: Tracy, Report R. I. Fish Com., 43. 



1909: Ehrenbaum, Nordisches Plankton, 10, 380. 



LEPT0CEPHALID.5:. The Conger Eels. 

 34. Leptocephalus conger (Linnaeus). Conger Eel. 



Geog. Dist.: Cosmopolitan, except not found in eastern Pacific. 



Migrations: Moves into deep water for spawning; does not run into 

 fresh water. 



Habitat: Salt and brackish water. 



Season in R. I.: Scattering specimens in spring and summer, common 

 from August to November. Reported by Mitchill from Block Island, 

 1818. In the U. S. Museum are casts of two specimens taken at Block 

 Island by the U. S. Fish Commission, September 26, 1874. One of 

 these weighed eleven pounds. September 24, 1906, West Passage trap, 

 two specimens; April 30, 1906, Dutch Island trap, one specimen; May 

 27, 1905, Dutch. Island trap; June 5, 1906, Hazard's Quarry trap, three 

 specimens; August 8, 1906, Goose Neck trap, three specimens; August 

 23, Dutch Island trap, specimen; August 27, 1905, Sand Blow trap, 

 large specimen. 



Reproduction: Spawning takes place in deep off shore waters of the 

 ocean, probably in late summer. On American coast, eggs taken by 

 the " Grampus '' in the beginning of August. Eggs are 2.4 to 2.75 mm. 

 in diameter, have segmental yolk like Clupeoid eggs, and possess one to 

 six oil globules. There is a larval stage and a metamorphosis, as in the 

 case of the common eel. (For a brief statement of the life history of the 



