Fish and Their Fabulous Neighbors [ 179 



their noses out of the swirling water as if "sizing up" the situation. 

 They turn their heads against the falling water and twist their 

 bodies like bows, then straighten out again. They bring every 

 muscle into play as they try to progress. 



Sometimes they succeed by practically climbing the cascade, 

 at other times they top it with a single leap. No matter what their 

 method, they never give up. If need be, they wait for days even 

 weeks! until a change in the volume of water provides a bettei 

 opportunity to scale the barrier. 



Pacific salmon rarely survive spawning to return to the sea. 

 Their usual fate is to die after breeding. 



EELS VERSATILE CREATURES 



"Is that a fish? Looks like a snake to me!" 

 With some reason the children are dubious when Daddy dis* 

 plays an eel as the morning's "catch." But despite its elongated, 

 snakelike form it is a true fish, having gills for breathing and 

 fins for swimming. 



Eels and Snakes: The well-known figure of speech, "slippery as 

 an eel," makes a good point of contrast between this fish and the 

 snake. The skin of a snake is never slimy; that of an eel is always 

 slimy. The eel's skin is thick and flexible, with the scales lodged 

 in it instead of on the outside. Quantities of tiny glands in the 

 skin produce a sticky mucus. These factors, combined with the 

 creature's suppleness, give it the ability to slip through anyone's 

 fingers. 



Eels Love Privacy: Eels live in all kinds of waters, in mountain 

 lakes and streams, in salt-water pools along the shore, and in 

 stagnant ponds. Clean water or foul it makes no difference to 

 the welfare of these hardy fish. It might seem strange, therefore, 

 that we do not see them more frequently. The fact is, however, 

 that eels are secretive creatures, and much of the time they lie 

 buried in mud. If something seriously disturbs them in their 

 hiding place, they come out in swarms; they live in groups. 



Vast Migrations: Like salmon, eels make astounding migratory 

 journeys but they reverse the salmons' procedure. Instead of 



