322 THE WORLD OF ANIMAL LIFE 



occasionally devoured by them, and once an eel was found dead, 

 having been choked by a rat which it had captured, but which had 

 proved too large for it to swallow. 



Eels are very tenacious of life. Not only can they live for a 

 very long time when removed from the water, but they will sustain 

 injuries that to almost all other animals would prove immediately 

 fatal. Fishermen generally kill them by grasping their necks, and 

 slapping their tails sharply two or three times against a post, or 

 across the side of the boat. 



Two different kinds of eels inhabit the fresh waters of Great 

 Britain, one being called the Sharp-nosed, and the other the Blunt- 

 nosed Eel. A third kind, however, known as the Conger-Eel, is 

 marine, and is very plentiful off our English and Irish coasts ; 

 and, as this is a most interesting creature, we must not pass it by 

 without learning something about it. 



This eel is much larger than either of the freshwater varieties, 

 for it sometimes attains to a length of ten feet, and a weight of one 

 hundred and thirty pounds. A conger-eel of this size is equal in 

 circumference to a man's thigh. It cannot be captured without 

 some little difficulty, for it is immensely strong, and struggles 

 with such determination when it is hooked that only a very power- 

 ful man can lift it from the water. Even when it is placed in the 

 boat it continues its efforts to escape, and writhes and twists about 

 with the greatest activity. Its teeth, too, are long and sharp, and 

 if it should seize the foot or arm of one of the fishermen, nothing but 

 death will induce it to loose its hold. 



The tail of the conger-eel, besides possessing great muscular 

 power, is prehensile, like that of a spider-monkey or an opossum. 

 More than once, one of these curious fishes, after having been 

 hooked and drawn into a boat, has been known to seize the gun- 

 wale with its tail, and by means of the "purchase" thus obtained, 

 to jerk itself over the side and back into the sea. 



The line by means of which conger-eels are captured is usually 

 about four hundred feet long, and to it are fastened a number 

 of "snoods", or shorter lines at regular distances apart. Each of 

 these snoods is furnished with a hook, so that a number of eels can 

 be captured upon the same line. 



