REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 51 



Season in R. I.: Abundant throughout the year, but are most numerous 

 in the autumn when the females are descending the rivers. About April 

 15, 1905, the eels in Greenwich Bay, R. I., for a period of about three 

 weeks, died in great numbers. They rose to the surface of the water, 

 swam slowly around until dead; they floated up in immense numbers on 

 the surface and drifted on the shores. 



Reproduction : Breeding takes place in winter time in salt water. The 

 females with mature ovaries are taken through the ice. 



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 5 feet. Young taken when ice breaks up in the spring 1 to 1^ 

 inches long. Prof. Jenks found specimens 2\ inches long on April 19th. 



LEPTOCEPHALIDyE. The Conger Eels. 



31. Leptoeephalus 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. 

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



August to November. In the U. S. Museum are casts of 2 specimens 



taken at Block Island by the U. S. Fish Commission, September 26, 1874. 



One of these weighed 11 pounds. 

 Habit.^^t : Salt and brackish water. 

 Reproduction: Takes place in the depths of the ocean. 

 Food: Fishes, snails, shrimp, worms. 

 Size: Average, 4 to 6 feet. Smallest observed at Woods Hole are 15 to 20 



inches long. 



ELOPID^. The Tarpons. 



32. Tarpon atlanticus (Cuvier & Valenciennes). Tarpon. 

 Geog. Dist.: Cape Cod to Brazil. 



Season in R. I. : Rare. Stragglers are reported by fishermen. 



Specimen taken in August, 1874, at Newport by Mr. Samuel Powell 

 (Photograph No. 398 in U. S. Nat. Mus.) Mr. J. M. K. Knowles, of Wake- 

 field, is authority for the statement that a tarpon 5 feet long and weighing 

 30 pounds was taken near Dutch Island Harbor, Narragansett Bay, in 1900. 



