THE EEL FAMILY. 445 



those which do not migrate, both of those which are not yet 

 able to migrate, and of those which never go to the sea, but 

 spend their whole life in the lagoons, were more or less filled 

 with remnants of food.' 



Observers differ in opinion as to how far from the shore 

 the spawning takes place. Pickard thought that the eel 

 probably spawns in shallow, salt, or brackish water in harbours, 

 and at the mouths of estuaries and rivers, where it is well 

 known eels are speared in winter. It is clear, writes Norny, 

 that the eels hibernate in winter to breed, the roe forms and 

 matures during the period, and the young are hatched just at 

 the end of this period. According to Jourdain, the eel which is 

 ready for spawning descends to the sea, and remains in the 

 neighbourhood of the coast. Jacoby, however, considered that 

 the development of the reproductive organs takes place in the 

 sea, not near the coast, but farther out in deep water. The 

 latter view, to some extent, receives confirmation from the fact 

 that the only ripe eel which is recorded as caught in salt water 

 was captured 20 miles from land\ 



At present the balance of evidence seems in favour of 

 assuming that the sexual migration of the eel is from one 

 point of view the counterpart of that effected by the salmon. 

 In the latter is seen a fish whose instinct impels it to migrate 

 from the sea up the streams and rivers — making them a nursery 

 for its offspring, and in the other case a fish guided by the same 

 unerring instinct to leave the river-beds and migrate seawards — 

 thereby taking advantage of the inaccessibility of the ocean to 

 the many foes of its young. We may note that in each case 

 man avails himself of the migratory instinct to successfully 

 obtain a ready supply for his own needs. 



Fishes having a migratory instinct similar to that which is 

 shown to be most probable in the eel are known to naturalists 

 as katadromous in contradistinction to the salmon whose habit 

 is described as anadromous. 



Another interesting conjecture suggests itself here, namely 



1 Feddersen says that the broad-nosed eel (pasouite) does not migrate to the 

 sea, and breeds in fresh water. Mittheil. des deutschen See-fischerei-vereins, 

 1895. 



