60 FISHES OF ILLINOIS 



out of the water into damp meadows, where they are some- 

 times found hiding under stones near springs. 



They are among the most voracious of all carnivorous 

 fishes, but are chiefly scavengers in their feeding habits, eating 

 all manner of refuse, preferring, however, dead fish or other 

 animal matter. They sometimes devour fishes caught in gill- 

 nets, and on the Atlantic coast frequently mutilate shad, caught 

 in the net, to get at their roe. It is said by Jordan and Ever- 

 mann that it frequently happens that the greater part of a gill- 

 net catch may consist, when it is removed, simply of the heads 

 and backbones of fishes, the remainder having been devoured 

 by myriads of eels. They are nocturnal feeders, " poking their 

 noses into every imaginable hole in their search for food. " An 

 eel in our aquarium at Ottawa, sought its food only at night, 

 and hid by day under a stone on the bottom of the tank. 



The flesh of the eel is highly esteemed by many, and it 

 always brings a good price. In the Great Lake region and in 

 the East eels are often salted and smoked. They are also put 

 up in tins with jellies or a spiced sauce of vinegar. Their skins 

 are used in England for binding books and making whips. Eels 

 are caught in traps and eel-pots and on set-lines, and some- 

 times alsp with seines. 



The mode of reproduction and the development of their 

 young were unsolved riddles from the time of Aristotle to near 

 the end of the nineteenth century, but all essential facts in the 

 life history of the species are now well understood. The principal 

 difficulty arose from the fact that the eel, although a fresh-water 

 fish during the greater part of its life, migrates to the sea to 

 propagate, spawning in salt water, usually on muddy banks off 

 the mouths of rivers. The young develop within two or three 

 months, but they are so unlike the adults that they were not 

 recognized as belonging even to the same genus. Spawning 

 occurs in fall, and at the beginning of the second spring the 

 young find their way to the mouths of rivers, which they ascend 

 in considerable numbers, remaining in fresh water until full 

 grown, when they return to the sea. During this migration, 

 eels, like salmon and shad, do not take any food. Their sexual 

 organs do not mature until they have been some weeks in salt 

 water. After spawning both sexes die, neither males nor females 

 ever returning to fresh water the second time. The eel is re- 

 markably prolific, a single female 32 inches long having been 

 estimated to produce 10,700,000 eggs. 



