62 FISHES AND FISHERIES OF THE IRISH SEA. 



B. PHYSOSTOMI APODES. 



Without pelvic fins. This section includes the family of the Eels. 



Family MUR^NIDAE. 

 ANGUILLA VULGARIS, Turton. Eel. 



(Day's British Fishes, vol. II., p. 241, PI. CXLII., fig. i.) 

 (Fish. Mus., Zool. Dep., Univ. Coll., Liverpool.) Local name, " Snigg." 

 They are abundant on our coasts, and are caught in the estuaries of our rivers, and 

 especially near sewers, generally in eel nets and eel baskets, but are also taken by hook and line. 

 The young eel (" eel-fare ") ascend our rivers in enormous numbers early in the year, March 

 to May. Full-grown eels descend to the sea in winter and probably spawn in deep water. 



The immature transparent fish known as " Leptocephalus brevirostris " is the larva 

 of the common eel. It is about three inches in length, and on its transformation becomes 

 reduced to a young eel of about two inches. 



CONGER VULGARIS, Cuv. Conger eel. 



(Day's British Fishes, vol. II., p. 250, PI. CXLII., Fig. 2.) 

 (Fish. Mus., Zool. Dep., Univ. Coll., Liverpool.) 



The conger eel has an extraordinarily wide range, being found not only round the 

 shores of Europe, but also in the Indian Ocean, at Japan, and at Tasmania. It is common 

 in the Irish Sea. Byerley records it from the Mersey and the Dee. It is caught at Hilbre 

 Island amongst the rocks at low tide by men provided with long, curved, and pointed iron 

 rods. It is also caught in the Rock Channel (Mersey), amongst the stones at Southport pier, 

 and elsewhere on the Lancashire coast ; also along the coasts of Wales, Isle of Man, 

 especially where rocky, as at Port Erin. It is caught by line fishing in the Menai Straits 

 and elsewhere, and also in trawls. It is frequently taken by the Fleetwood trawlers on 

 the off-shore grounds. The immature stage known as " Leptocephalus morrisii " occurs 

 in the estuaries of the Mersey and Dee, in the Wyre, and in the Barrow Channel. 



Order II. CHONDROSTEI. 



Internal skeleton cartilaginous ; skull and skin of body provided with membrane bones ; 

 vertebral column with a persistent notochord. Heart with a conus arteriosus ; intestine with 

 a spiral valve. 



Family AciPENSERiDyE. 

 ACIPENSER STURIO, Linn. StUPgCOn. 



(Day's British Fishes, vol. II., p. 280, PI. CL., fig. i, 2, 3.) 

 (Fish. Mus., Zool. Dep., Univ. Coll., Liverpool.) 



The Sturgeon ranges in Europe from the Baltic to the Mediterranean and their rivers. 

 In our district it is occasionally taken in the trawl and in salmon nets. Byerley records it as 

 being sometimes captured on the North of Wirral and in the Mersey ; Walker records it from 



