434 MODERN SEA FISHING 



and a half years. There are many stories of congers being 

 caught weighing over 100 Ibs. One of that size would certainly 

 be an unpleasant customer to have on board any small boat. 



On the edibility of sea eels opinions differ, but most of us 

 who have indulged in 'real turtle' at a London hotel or 

 restaurant have unconsciously imbibed conger extract. In 

 Scotland eels of all kinds are abominated, being regarded in 

 the light of serpents, but in Wales pickled conger is a very 

 favourite dish. Both on the Welsh and Scotch coasts, and 

 round the Channel Islands and Ireland, conger are very 

 plentiful. 



To give an idea of the voracity of these enormous fish, one 

 of 58 1 Ibs. and over six feet in length was caught at Portrush in 

 1876. It was endeavouring to swallow a salmon of 6 Ibs., 

 which had been caught in a net. There is, indeed, hardly any 

 fish which they will not attack, including their own species ; and 

 at the Southport Aquarium the only other remaining inhabitants 

 of the conger tanks were skate, large turbot, sturgeons, and 

 angel fish. 



Conger not only eat, but are eaten. A strange scene 

 occurred upon the beach of Colwyn Bay in April of 1881. A 

 porpoise chased one of these creatures with such effect that 

 the eel ran ashore and began to climb the beach. It was 

 captured by a Captain Davis, who had quite a set-to with his 

 marine visitor. According to Templeton, a very large number 

 of congers were killed by their own greediness on the coast of 

 Rathlin by gorging themselves with salt herrings, of which an 

 all too plentiful supply came sinking through the water from a 

 wrecked vessel. Congers are extremely sensitive to cold, and 

 I have heard once or twice of large numbers having died in 

 frosty weather. This, I think, possibly may have happened 

 during an early frost before the fish had retired to deeper water 

 for the winter. 



