412 THE CONGER EEL. 



are muddy at the bottom. Here they often grow to an enormous 

 size, sometimes weighing fifteen or sixteen pounds. 



When kept in ponds, these fish had been known to destroy youn 

 ducks. Eels seldom come out of their hiding-places except in the 

 night, during which time they are caught with lines that have several 

 baited hooks. In winter they bury themselves deep in the mud, and, 

 like the serpent tribe, remain in a state of torpor. They are so impa- 

 tient of cold, as eagerly to take shelter even in a wisp of straw, if 

 flung into a pond in severe weather; and this has sometimes been 

 practised as a mode of catching them. 



Eels are viviparous, or produce living offspring. They are so 

 tenacious of life, that their parts will continue to move for a con- 

 siderable time after they are skinned and cut into p'eces: and no 

 other fish whatever will live so long out of water as these. They 

 are best in season from May to July; but they may be caught with a 

 line till September. When the water is thick with rains, they may 

 be fished for during the whole day; but the largest and best are 

 caught by night-lines. 



THE COXGER EEL. 



When at its full size, the Conger Eel has sometimes been known 

 to measure 

 more than tea 

 feet in length, 

 and from four- 

 teen to sixteen 

 inches in cir- 

 cumference. It 

 is one of the 

 most danger- 

 ous and most 

 powerful ene- 

 rn i e s with 

 which the fish- 

 ermen of the British Islands have to contend. Being usnnllv oanirht 

 by a hook and line, it requires some care to land and kill the large 

 ones without injury. We are informed, that on such occasions they 

 havo been known to entwine themselves round the legs of a fisher- 

 man, and to fight with the utmost fury. A Conger, six feet in 

 length, was caught in the Wash at Yarmouth, in April, 1808; but 

 not until after a severe contest with the man who had seized it. The 

 animal is stated to have risen half erect, and to have actually 

 knocked the fisherman down before he could secure it. This Conger 

 weighed only about sixty pounds; but some of the largest exceed 

 even a hundred weight. 



The voracity of these fish is enormously great. They often lie 

 concealed, in the mud or sand, at the mouths of large rivers, for the 

 purpose of seizing upon any prey which passes either in or out. If 



