Xiy -EEL-FISHING WITH SO-CALLED "HOMMOR" (A SPECIES 

 OF FISH-POT) ON THE BALTIC COAST OF SWEDEN AND IN THE 

 SOUND.* 



By Rudolph Lumdberg. 



The eel is certainly found along the entire coast of Sweden, and 

 everywhere forius an object of fisheries, although their extent, and 

 consequent economical value, vary greatly on different portions of the 

 coast. On our coasts we must distinguish between two kinds of eel- 

 fisheries — those which aim at the eels which are found on our coasts 

 all the year round, and those whose object is the migratory eel, which 

 are only carried on during the latter part of summer and during au- 

 tumn, with a special apparatus, constructed for catching migratory 

 eels, the so-called " hommor." t 



These last-mentioned fisheries are, beyond a question, the largest and 

 most important, and both for this reason and for the sake of the con- 

 clusions relative to the mode of life of the eel, wiiich may be drawn 

 from the data gathered so far, as well as the hints for further investi- 

 gations which they furnish, I have thought that a brief review of this 

 fishery would be of interest. 



Before going any further, I deem it necessary to say a few words 

 with regard to the character of the apparatus in question, or the so- 

 called "hommor," and the manner of carrying on this fishery. 



*"0m dlfisket med s. I: liommor vid svensTca OsiersjoJcusten samt Oresu7id." Stockhohii, 

 1881. Translated from the Swedish by Herman Jacobson. 



tThe fishermen mal:e a distinction between the stationary and the migratoiy eel. 

 Whether these different eels must be considered as separate species or only as vari- 

 ous stages of age and sex, is a question which I will not attempt to answer, as I have 

 not had an opportunity to investigate the subject. Kroyer considers the migratory 

 eel as a separate si)ecies {Anguilla migratoria), and even Nilsson gives it a special 

 name {Murccna acutirostris). Ekstrom, Yarrel, and some of the older zoologists distin- 

 guish several species of eels. More recent uatxiralists, like Siebold, think that there 

 is only one species of the European eel, and even Giinther thinks that these dilfer- 

 ences, principally relating to a difference in the shape of the nose, do not entitle us to 

 assinne different species of eels. Giinther, however, makes a distinction, based on a 

 difference in the position of the fins, between two European species of eels, viz, the 

 Aruiuilla vvlgaris and the AvgnUla latirosiris. The varieties of the eel distinguished 

 by our fishermen are the same as those given in Nilsson's "Fauna"; but the fishermen 

 pay less attention to the shape of the nose than to the color, which with the grass- 

 eel or coast eel is a yellowish green, and with the migratory eel white or whitish 

 gray, and to the size and flavor. The grass-pel is smaller, has softer meat, and is 

 leaner than the migratory eel, 



[1] . 415 



