REVIEW OF LOCAL FISHES 



49 



V. Eel-like Fishes 

 (Apodos') 



There is a not unnatural popular belief that the Eel is in some manner 

 related to a snake, but the fact is that however, unlike or even unrelated 

 to one another the many kinds of eels which squirm through the "eel- 

 grass" of our bays, the clogging vegetation of tropical rivers and the 

 ooze of the deep sea bottom may be, all are fishes. 



The Sea Lamprey/ which reaches a length of two or three feet, 

 has a round sucking jawless mouth armed with concentric rows of teeth, 

 moderately developed eyes, seven small holes oi- gill openings on the side 



SEA LAMPREY 



of the neck and a mottled color. In the late spring it enters rivers, clears 

 a circular gravelly nest in their bed by grasping with its mouth and 

 dragging away the larger stones, and in this nest lays its small eggs. Its 

 young resemble it in general form but arc at first without ej^es or teeth. 

 The Brook Lamprey is found in springtime building nests in smaller 

 streams similar to those of the Sea Lamprey. It resembles its larger 

 relative but is much smaller, from six to ten inches long, bluish black 

 above, silvery below, and has a conspicuous plate in the roof of the mouth 

 with a large tooth at either end of it. The Lamprey is a good illustration 

 of the old adage that appearances are deceptive; he looks like a common 

 eel, but belongs to a very different group of fish-like creatures. 



The Common Eel is not at all related to the Lampreys, but is prob- 

 ably descended from ancestors which were more like ordinary fishes. Its 

 gills open to the exterior through a short vertical slit below its breast 

 fin. Its back fin extends around the tail onto the under surface where it 

 becomes the anal fin. The back fin of the Conger Eel begins almost over 



'The I.amprpvs are pla-ed here for romparison with the eel although thev have no true relation- 

 ship with it. In fa t in structure they stand entirely apart from all other fishes. 



Ma''iv crouns of fishes have given rise to eel-like forms. More or less eel-like marine forms are 

 the band-Ike. silvery Sand Kel (Se tion VIII) ; the similar more elongate Cutlass Fish with thread-like 

 tail (Se tion XT); the slender, bonv, long snouted Pipefish (Se tion VII). the Rook Eel with dorsal 

 fin of short spines, square headed Ghostfish and peculiar Eelpout (Section XIV). 



