DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SEA CONGERS AND EELS. 22T 



The famous caviare of the Russians is made from the roe 

 of the sturgeon, freed from its membranes, washed in vine- 

 gar, and dried in the open air. It is then salted, put into 

 a bag and pressed, and finally packed in small barrels for 

 sale. 



The principal fishery of the Conger Eel in England is 

 upon the Cornish coast. They are chiefly caught by what 

 are termed " bulters," which are strong lines, several hun- 

 dred feet long, with hooks about eight feet apart, baited 

 with sand-launces, pilchards, or mackerel. The bulters are 

 sunk to the ground by a stone fastened to them. Sometimes 

 «uch a number of these are tied together as to reach to a 

 considerable distance. It is not unusual for a boat with 

 three men to bring on shore from one to two tons as the 

 produce of a night's fishing, the conger being caught most 

 readily at night. 



On some of the French coasts the conger fishery is still 

 more abundant than in Cornwall. 



Tiio great sea-conger has so great a resemblance to the 

 <jommon eel, the inhabitant of our rivers and ponds, that 

 many persons believed the former was merely an eel of 

 larger growth; but the difference may be readily discerned. 

 The conger, whether large or small, has always the snout 

 tind upper jaw projecting beyond the lower one; whilst the 

 fresh-water eel is remarkable for its protuberant lower jaw. 

 The tail is also more lengthened and pointed, the dorsal fin 

 commencing much nearer the head, and the teeth of the 

 tipper jaw, although slender, placed so close together as to 

 form a cutting edge. The internal structure of these fishes 

 •differs more widely, the conger having a great many more 

 bones than the eel, particularly towards the tail, and in pos- 

 sessing a greater number of vertebrae (the spine or back- 

 bone). 



The common conger of the Atlantic coasts is a large fish, 

 sometimes exceeding ten feet in length, and weighing up- 



