— 190 — 



It is obvious that the longer a species of eel remains in the Leptocephalus stage 

 and the nearer to the coasts it is spawned (and as Leptocephalus comes up from the 

 deeper layers), the 'greater is the chance of its Leptocephali being carried in towards the 

 shallow water at the coast, i. e. of stranding. From this can be provisionally explained, 

 why the Leptocephalus of the conger is the only Leptocephalus form, which previous to 

 the "Thor's" investigations had sometimes been taken off northern and western Europe, 

 as I imagine that its metamorphosis takes longer time than for example that of the 

 common eel. 



With regard to the specimens of the conger in the Leptocephalus stage taken in Great 

 Britain at an earlier period reference may be made to the papers cited of Cunningham on 

 the conger and on the larvae of the common eel'. Further, single specimens of the 

 conger Leptocephalus have been taken in recent years on the North European coasts to 

 the east of the British Isles (east coast of Scotland and coast of Norway) which 

 are of special interest in comparison with the condition in the common eel. 



The Scottish specimens are described by Fulton^. The one which had a length of 

 145 mm., was taken on December 27th (igo2?) in the Moray Firth on Smiths Bank in 

 28 fathoms, the other (length 123 mm.) on February I2th (1903?) in 24 fathoms also in 

 the Moray Firth, but to the south of Smiths Bank. According to Fulton's careful de- 

 scription and figures, the two specimens were in different stages of development. The first 

 had a flat (taenioid) form, larval teeth and the anus was placed far back (according to 

 Fulton the specimen was in the stage called by Kaup Leptocephalus punctatus). The 

 second specimen had no teeth, its form was not so flat (taenioid) as that of the first and 

 the anus had come much further forward. It is thus evident that this specimen was in 

 process of metamorphosis. 



In addition to the two Scottish specimens mentioned, which were taken in the Moray 

 Firth in winter, two further specimens are recorded by Fulton 3 as taken on the east 

 coast of Scotland, on May 4th (1905?) in Aberdeen Bay. They were taken whilst fishing 

 with a fine-meshed net for metamorphosed flatfish young right on the beach in 4 — 5 

 fathoms depth. The one, which was kept alive in the aquarium until June 13th (when it 

 disappeared) is described as having a length of ca. 5 inches and a height of ca. 1 cm. 

 It was far forward in development, at the same stage according to Fulton as the earlier 

 mentioned vermiform specimen which had the anus almost in the middle of the body. 

 Of the second specimen only a part was taken. 



A specimen described by Collette was also in process of metamorphosis. It was 

 taken on the Norwegian coast off Christiansund on January I2th 1898, and had a length 



1 In Mc Intosh & Masterman (Brit. Marine Food-Fishes, 1897, p. 456) two specimens of the conger Lep- 

 tocephalus are mentioned, one of which was taken "on the western coast of Scotland" in 1869, the other in 

 June 1890 in Loch Scridain (Mull, W-coast of Scotland). The first is figured (PI. X)X, fig. 6), from which one 

 sees that is was far forward in metamorphosis (anus lies almost in the middle of the body). The second, which 

 was only 80 mm. in length, was already by reason of its small length evidently far on in development, or 

 almost metamorphosed, which also appears from the statement that "the dorsal fin comes far forward, reaching 

 within 7/8 inches of the tip of the snout". 



2 T.Wemyss Fulton, The young of the conger (22nd Annual Report of the Fishery Board for Scotland 

 for the year 1903, 1904, p. 281 — 83 with figures). 



3 T. Wemyss Fulton, The Young of the Conger (Leptocephalus) (23rd Ann. Rep. Fish. Board Scott, for 

 1904, p. 251, 1905). 



4 R. Collett, Meddelelser om Norges Fiske i Aarene 1884— 1901, p. 47 — 48. 



