THE CONGER EEL 177 



Cunningham has never come upon a male conger measuring 

 more than 2 ft. 2 in., though another biologist records one of 

 2 ft. 5f in. As to weight, which is always a deceptive and 

 unsatisfactory basis of comparison in fishes, female congers 

 have been caught weighing over 9 stones, but a conger of 

 half that weight is reckoned a large fish nowadays, at least by 

 the trade. 



Congers of large size seek their food at night quite close 

 to land. They are not only much cleaner feeders than the 

 eels of rivers, but they also reside far from the soft mud, 

 such as these prefer to any other 'environment. If they 

 feed to any extent during the day, it must be either out in 

 the deeper water, which seems improbable, or, more likely, on 

 the sandy grounds. As no fisherman would ever dream of 

 anchoring his boat for conger otherwise than on the rocks, such 

 a habit might well remain undiscovered. It is, however, more 

 probable that the currently accepted view of the conger feeding 

 seriously only in the darkness is the correct one. Here and 

 there cases are recorded of large conger taking a bait in broad 

 daylight, but they are the exceptions. Deep water is, however, 

 less essential than darkness ; indeed, the writer has frequently 

 taken really large conger, of 4 ft. or more in length, in 6 

 or 8 fathoms of water, while boats anchored farther out, in 

 perhaps 20 fathoms, took only small fish, known as "straps" 

 by the fishermen, who, when removing them from the 

 hook, " strap " them over the thwarts so as to quiet their 

 struggles. All fishermen who have had success with congers 

 know that they absolutely refuse a tainted bait, and that 

 only the freshest of squid or pilchard will catch them. In 

 this way they are the opposite of the bass, which, if anything, 

 prefers tainted food, particularly when, in autumn, foraging 

 in the surf. This fastidiousness of conger is, however, very 

 difficult to understand in the light of some experiments once 

 made at Plymouth, where it was found that, although refusing 

 baits tainted in the ordinary way, congers readily seized either 



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