90 TELEOSTEI : APODES. — XV. 



ing; teeth small, subequal, in bands on jaws and vomer; pterygoid 

 bones slender; tongue free in front; nostrils lateral; lips full; 

 opercles developed ; vertical fins confluent ; D. beginning well be- 

 hind head ; P. present ; gill openings moderate. Sexual organs in- 

 conspicuous. One genus with four or more species, crawling in the 

 mud and ooze of brackish and fresh waters of most regions, absent 

 on the Pacific coast of America. They are among the most vora- 

 cious of fishes. " On their hunting excursions, they overturn alike 

 huge and small stones, beneath which they find species of shrimp 

 and cray-fish, of which they are excessively fond. Their noses are 

 poked into every imaginable hole in their search for food, to the 

 terror of innumerable small fishes." ( W. H. Ballou.') 



The eels often move for a considerable distance on land, in damp 

 grass. High waterfalls, dams, and other obstructions are often 

 passed in this way. It is thought that eels spawn only in the 

 sea, and that the female spawns once and then dies. The females 

 are larger than the males, paler in color, with smaller eyes and 

 higher fins. 



95. ANGUILLA Thunberg. 



218. A. anguilla (L.). Eel. Brown, more or less tinged with 

 yellowish. Head 8^. L. 40. N. Atlantic, from Maine to Brazil, 

 ascending all streams ; found throughout Mississippi valley, never 

 in the open sea. The American Eel (var. rostrata Le Sueur) has 

 the distance from front of D. to front of A. a little less than head; 

 in the European form this is a little greater, the D. being a httle 

 farther back in the former. (JEu.) (Lat., eel.) 



Family XLI. BCHELID^. (The Conger Eels.) 



Eels closely related to the A nguiUidce, but without scales, and 

 with the ovaries in the female evident, and with comparatively 

 large eggs similar to those of fishes generally. D. commencing not 

 far behind head. Genera 3 or 4 ; species about 10, all strictly 

 marine. LeptocephaluB morrisi Gmelin, a translucent, ribbon-shaped 

 creature, with very small head, and no generative organs, is occa- 

 sionally taken on our coasts. This is thought to be a stage of ar- 

 rested development of the young of Echelus, a larval form which 

 goes on increasing in size without ever reaching the characters of 

 the perfect animal. 



tt. Jaws with an outer series of close-set teeth; lower jaw not projecting; dor- 

 sal beginning behind root of pectorals Echelus, 96. 



96. ECHELUS i Rafinesque. (eyxcXvs, eel, softened into 



Echelus.) 



* In strictness, the name Leptocephalus should supersede Echelus, but there may be 

 some doubt aa to the identiflcatiou of L. viorrisif and for the last hundred years Lepto- 

 cephalui has been used as a general name for those peculiar immature forms. 



