EELS AND CAT-FISHBES 249 
ii 
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Pea 
[ Milford-on-Seu 
L Hees ee ida iw. ‘ P a 
Photo by WH’, Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] 
CONGER-EEL 
The females of this species often swvallow the males 
p 
fact that the common eel takes about four or five years to attain a weight of between 5 and 
6 lbs. The males are smaller than the females, the greatest length attained by the former 
being a little over 1 foot 7 inches, whilst the latter may attain a length of nearly 4 feet. 
For a long while what is now known to be the female river-eel was regarded as a distinct 
species — the SHARP-NOSED EEL. The two sexes have quite different habits, the smaller males 
being found mostly in the brackish water of river-mouths, and rarely above the reach of the 
tides, whilst the females ascend the rivers for great distances, thousands finding their way 
into isolated ponds, which they reach by traveling overland. Here they appear to remain 
till they have reached maturity, when they migrate with one accord to the sea. Coming down 
the rivers during the months of October and November, hundreds are taken in large niches 
with traps, the mouths of which are directed up-stream. 
The migration of eels to the sea is for the sole purpose of spawning and fertilising the 
eggs, which done, they die. The spawning appears to take place in extremely deep water, 
where the young eels pass the earlier stages of their development. Like the majority of 
young fishes, the fry are at first very different in form from the adults, and many have 
from time to time been described as distinct species, no suspicion of their true nature 
having been aroused. And this is not to be wondered at, for at this stage they are perfectly 
transparent and compressed from side to side, so as to be but little thicker than a sheet of 
stout paper; the head is ridiculously small, and only median fins are present. As develop- 
ment proceeds, having reached a certain maximum size, they, strangely enough, begin to 
slowly diminish, growing shorter and at the same time rounder, so that eventually, by the 
time the characteristic eel form is attained, they are considerably shorter than they were at 
the maximum period of larval life. 
By the time the adult eel form has been attained, the larve have made their way to 
the mouths of various rivers, preparatory to making their ascent, which takes place between 
