CHAPTER VIII 



THE CONGER EEL 



Family : Muraenidae {Conger vulgaris) 



If it were not that the more famiHar eel of our rivers has 

 the habit of going down to the sea to breed with the same 

 regularity as is practised by a salmon going up the river for 

 for the same purpose, there would be little or no risk of 

 confusion, even in name, between the two eels. Whereas the 

 fresh-water species has a small eye and small gill-openings, small 

 teeth and small scales, the latter embedded to all appearance in 

 the skin, and whereas, further, its lower jaw is slightly the 

 longer, and its dorsal fin commences some distance behind the 

 head, in the conger all these characters are different. The eye, 

 teeth, and gill-openings are large ; scales are absent altogether; 

 the upper jaw is the longer, though not perhaps conspicuously, 

 and the dorsal fin commences close behind the head and is 

 continued round the tail. The colour of the two is less 

 distinctive, but, as a rule, the river eel has a greenish shade on 

 the back and some yellow in the abdomen, neither of which 

 is ever seen in the conger. The latter may, however, show 

 great variation in hue, those trawled on the sand being known 

 as "white" conger, and being of a uniform dirty grey, while 

 those hooked on the rocks are called " black " conger, and are 

 very dark on the upper parts. There is also a black edge to 

 the fins, and there are some dull grey spots along the lateral 

 line. In size the females are immensely superior to the 



males. Whereas the former grow to a length of 6 and 8 ft., 



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