52 FOOD FISHES 



In the spring it leaves the sea and ascends a river until high 

 up in some clear gravelly pool it scrapes out a hole and deposits 

 its eggs. These are much fewer than those of most other fish, 

 for in these quiet inland waters, though otters and numerous 

 other enemies are on the look-out for the young salmon, they 

 have a better chance of surviving than out in the open seas, 

 where the struggle for existence is so fierce that the eggs of 

 most fishes are reckoned by the million . The cod, for instance, 

 deposits nine million. 



Some of our most famous salmon rivers are the Spey and 

 the Tay, the Severn, and the Eden, the Bann and the Shannon, 

 while in British Columbia the Fraser and other rivers have 

 become proverbial for their enormous catches. New West- 

 minster in British Columbia is the head-quarters of the tinned 

 salmon industry. 



EELS. As you gaze out over the level cornlands in the midst 

 of which the glorious cathedral of Ely now stands, it is interest- 

 ing to remember that all this fertile plain was once watery 

 fenland and abounded in eels to such an extent that the 

 biggest island was called Eel Ey (eel island), and that rents 

 in this neighbourhood were paid, not in so much money, but 

 in so many eels. 



These slippery, snake-like fish live in muddy ponds and 

 rivers, and feed on frogs and worms, and whatever else they 

 can swallow. 



Unlike the salmon, which come up the rivers to deposit 

 their eggs, the eels go out to the deep sea to spawn, and, after 

 the eggs are hatched, thousands of young eels, or ' elvers ' 

 as they are called, may be seen making their way back in 

 great processions up the rivers, but the parents do not 

 return. 1 



1 The little ribbon-like transparent fish called Leptocephalus, which is 

 caught out in the Atlantic, is now known to be the larva of the eel. These 

 little creatures are swept towards western Europe by the Gulf Stream. 

 During their shoreward journey they develop into little round eels with 

 fins. These ' elvers ' make their way up our rivers or .are carried up the 

 Channel into the North Sea towards Denmark and the Baltic ; others arc 

 carried round the north of Scotland and then southwards. 



