138 THE EEL A SEA FISH 



The true home, so to speak, of any particular 

 species is the place where it is commonly 

 reproduced. The so-called river-eel, there- 

 fore, is distinctly a sea fish which frequents the 

 river for catering purposes. 



Going back into the long past, we can 

 imagine that sea-eels living in the vicinity of 

 estuaries were attracted by a supply of food 

 in the form of worms, etc., washed down to 

 them at flood times. But as this influx would 

 only occur occasionally, the expectant eels, it 

 is natural to suppose, would acquire the habit 

 of pushing up stream to look for them. After 

 a time habit becomes fixed, and, eventually, 

 hereditary ; and with change of environment 

 differentiation takes place until the creatures 

 are in every way adapted to their altered 

 surroundings. In this way a new species 

 comes into being and continues constant so 

 long as the surroundings remain unaltered. 



But notwithstanding the changed form and 

 mode of life, the home of the eel is always the 

 sea. Though countless ages have doubtless 

 passed since first the eel began to explore fresh 

 water, the subconscious mind never forgets, so 

 to express it, that in salt water only can the 

 species reproduce its kind ; hence the migration 

 of eels from inland waters to the sea. 



