258 CONGER-EEL 



water is reckoned the most delicious ; but they are in ge- 

 neral a favourite viand. The ancient Romans, it seems, 

 held eels in very little estimation, perhaps on account of 

 their resemblance to snakes ; while, on the contrary, the 

 luxurious Sybarites were so fond of them, that the per- 

 sons who sold them were, by law, exempted from paying 

 tribute. 



THE CONGER-EEL. 



This species differs from the common in the deepness of 

 its colours, in living in the ocean, and in its superior mag- 

 nitude. Some of them have been caught near Scarbo- 

 rough, which measured ten feet and a half in length, and 

 near eighteen inches in circumference towards the middle. 



Though the conger is a fish of the ocean, it is thought 

 to generate like the fresh-water species. Innumerable 

 quantities of their supposed fry annually ascend the Severn 

 about the month of April, when they are called elvers. 

 They precede the shad, which is supposed to follow their 

 course, for the sake of preying on them. During this sea- 

 son they swarm in such abundance, that they are taken in 

 a kind of sieve made of hair-cloth, fixed to a long pole, 

 and let down into the water. The flesh of the elvers is 

 esteemed very delicate. 



Congers are prodigiously voracious ; preying on all kinds 

 offish without exception, and not rejecting carcasses which 

 accidentally fall in their way. In this latter respect they 

 resemble the common eel. In Cornwall they form a lu- 

 crative branch of commerce ; great numbers being caught 

 on that coast, and exported to Spain and Portugal when 

 cured. They are caught by various means ; but the large 

 ones sometimes prove dangerous to the fisherman when 

 taken, from being apt to entwine themselves round his 

 limbs ; on which account they are despatched as quickly 

 as possible. They are very common among the Hebrides ; 

 and, according to Mr. Pennant, the establishment of a 

 conger-fishery would be of singular advantage to the na- 

 .tives of those islands: but in many parts of Scotland 



