266 NATURAL HISTORY OF OUR SHORES 



themselves to be taken by the hand, without an attempt 

 to escape. 



They feed on small crustaceans (Entomostraca, etc.), 

 chiefly, but have no means of capturing very active prey. 



Fig. 113 shows our five local species. 



On the open shore, low down in the shell -gravel reaches, 

 another fish fauna presents itself. 



Here, buried in the loose gravel or in the fine white 

 sand which is heaped into ridges, are the sand-eels (another 

 misnomer, for they are not eels, but belong to a totally 

 distinct family, the Ophidiidce. The eels are Murenidce). 



We have two species on our shores viz. the " Great 

 Sand-eel " (Ammodytes lancea), which attains a length of 

 about sixteen inches, and the " Lesser Sand-eel " (Ammo- 

 dytes tobianus), which attains a length of about nine inches 

 (Fig. 115). 



The colour of the first is green on the back, silvery on 

 the sides and underneath. The lesser sand-eel is yellowish - 

 olive on the back, silvery on the sides and underneath. 



These are beautiful and active fishes. They swim the 

 open sea in vast shoals, but detachments break off, and 

 visit sandy and gravelly bays on all our coasts. They do 

 not remain long, and in a bay which is crowded to-day 

 there may not be one to-morrow, but fresh incursions are 

 constantly made. They go in shoals according to age, 

 sometimes a beach will be swarming with some that do not 

 exceed two or three inches in length, at other times only 

 the very large ones will be present, but as a rule our visitors 

 are those of medium size about nine inches. 



It is chiefly at night that they are found thus inshore, 

 except in the autumn and early winter, when they are 

 equally numerous by day. 



On some parts of the English coast, in the Channel Islands, 

 and on the opposite coast of France, sand-eeling is not only 

 an industry but a pastime with all ranks. Parties are 



