150 Eel, Distribution, Congregations. 



such quantities as market needs require. The Hadleigh 

 Ray, the Swatch way, the Ran and the Rye guts, &c., near 

 the W. Shoebury Buoy, are all attractive eel haRnts. The 

 same maybe said of the Medway and the Swale, as well as 

 the opposite shore, viz., Foulness creeks and channels con- 

 necting therewith from Havengore to the Burnham river. 

 They are so plentiful in the Blackwater that, as Dr. Laver 

 remarks, " Trawling for eels is there quite a paying business." 

 Within the Hamford water is also said to be good eel ground. 

 Buckland states* the common eel is numerous in the mud of 

 Folkestone harbour, and he gives reasons for believing they 

 breed there, likewise in the military canal near Hythe. 



We have only imperfect information regarding eel migra- 

 tion, their reproduction and rate of growth in the Leigh neigh- 

 bourhood. It would seem the adult breeding eels that descend 

 the liver in the autumn do not all pass seaward as conjectured, 

 at least in so far as the following case illustrates. In the fall 

 of 1896 two Leighmen (Kerry and Outing) suspected eels lay in 

 a hole at Scurry's Gut (Blackpoint Piles), east end of Canvey 

 Island. The spot in question was where the great storm of 

 1881 broke down the sea-wall ; afterwards it was daily 

 overflowed at high tide, the pit being remnant of the old inner 

 ditch. During ebb, neap tides, the oien proceeded to bale out 

 the water with buckets, and at last came to quite a colony of 

 eels. Some were large, others smaller, but 2 feet and over was 

 a common length. Suffice to say some 3 cwts. were obtained and 

 carried off in sacks. These were disposed of in Leigh and 

 London. Altogether 5 was made out of the transaction. Most 

 of those sold in Leigh fetched 6d. per Ib. Infilling of sand has 

 since partially destroyed the pit. Mr. B. Baxter has told us 

 his father, in 1875, obtained some 10 to 12 gallons of large 

 (breeding ?) eels out of a gut-hole below Southend Pier. He 

 himself once came across a similar congregation in a hole near 

 Shotley, Ri\rer Orwell, not far from Harwich. Query might 

 these form breeding holes or are spawning grounds hard by ? 



* "Curiosities of Natural History," 2nd Ed., 1860. 



