GREAT BRITAIN. 311 



fifty fathoms, where there is a rocky bottom, or sandy 

 patches, surrounded by rocks, which are covered with weed. 

 It is extremely voracious, preying on other fish, or even its 

 own kind, or Crustacea, especially at the time they have 

 lost their shells, and are consequently in a soft condition. 

 It and the common eel are also particularly partial to 

 carcases of any kind, being frequently found in such as 

 have been accidentally brought to the surface. Although 

 it appears to frequent favourite haunts from which it does 

 not stray any long distance, still it is more common at 

 some times than it is at others. It appears to be sensitive 

 atmospheric changes, being inert during the cold 

 eather, and more than usually active just before a storm. 

 It seems to be more readily captured at night-time, 

 especially if dark, while during its migrations it does not 

 seem to have been taken in fresh waters. If in a boat, it 

 feels about with its tail, by which it fixes itself to some 

 object, and then throws itself overboard ; consequently, as 

 soon as captured it is generally knocked on the head. 

 Muscular energy still exists in the heads of these fish for 

 some period after they are apparently dead ; thus a person 

 placing his foot inside the mouth of a seemingly dead 

 conger has had his shoe drawn off. Many instances are 

 also on record of the decapitated heads of these fish closing 

 upon foreign bodies being inserted between their jaws, as 

 on attempting to remove a hook from the mouth of one ; 

 and Patterson relates how a boy, seeing the head of one on 

 the shore, just left by the fishermen, stuck his toe into its 

 mouth, and his yells soon brought assistance. 



Its digestion is very rapid, and it will not only take fish 

 off hooks, but likewise tear them out of nets, and find its 

 way into lobster-pots in order to eat the prey contained 





