THE CONGER EEL. l6l 



weighing upwards of an hundred pounds. A fidiery of 

 congers eftablifhed at Mounfs Bay, in Cornwall, forms a 

 very confiderable article of^ommerce. Thej are an- 

 nually exported to Spain and Portugal in a dried (la.e, 

 "where they are grinded down iuto a kind of powder, and 

 are ufcd in enriching their foups *. 



They are caught by a fort of line called a bulter, bait- 

 ed with pilchards ; when taken, they are flit up, that a 

 part of the fat may exude from them before they are 

 faked, and fit for ufe ; and fo confiderable is the quantity 

 of juice that thus efcapes, that a filh of a hundred weight 

 will not dry to above twenty-five pounds. M. Pennant 

 fuppofes that a fifhery of congers might be ellabliihed 

 with advantage in the Hebrides, could the averfion of the 

 natives to this tribe be overcome. 



This fpecies is diftinguifiied by the fame voracity as 

 the former ; it devours other fifh, crabs, and even carca- 

 fes. The mode cf its generation is probably the fame 

 with the common eels ; but, however this be, it is cer- 

 tainly prolific, for the number of its young that annual- 

 ly afcends the Severn is prodigious ; they are there called 

 elvers, and during the month of April they i'warm in fuch 

 ihoals, that they are thrown out upon the Ihore v;ith fmall 

 fieves made of hair, and fixed to the end of a pole ; a man 

 will in this manner take out as many at one tide, as will fill 

 a bufhel f . 



The conger differs from the common eel, in having 

 the eyes larger in proportion ; the irides of a bright fil- 

 very colour, the lateral line marked with a row of fmall 

 fpots ; the edges of the dorfal and anal fin black, and ia 

 having a greater number of bones. 



• Brit. Zool, f Vide Gcfncr, upud WIU. 



Vol. UI. X 



