84 MARKETABLE BRITISH MARINE FISHES 



Ripe conger have never been taken from the sea, but they Hve 

 well in aquaria, and from study of them in that condition it has 

 been found that the males are very much smaller than the 

 females, that the females after feeding and growing for several 

 years cease to feed, and that their roes then develop. The eggs 

 of the conger are very small, and the roes arc not closed sacs but 

 open ribbons with the eggs on one side. The males in aquaria 

 become ripe : the fish do not exceed two and a half feet in length, 

 but the milts are large, filling the whole belly cavity: they live about 

 six months in the ripe condition without feeding and then die. 

 The females also die with enormously enlarged roes, but before 

 the eggs have become ripe. There can be no doubt that in the 

 sea conger of both sexes die after spawning. The eggs of some 

 fish of the eel family have been taken in the sea, but those of 

 the conger are not yet known. It is known that the fecundity 

 is great, various calculations having given the number of eggs 

 in a single female at from three to seven millions. The females 

 appear to be not only larger but more numerous than the males. 



