Fishes. 1829 



Eel, Sharp-nosed Eel, Anguilla acutirostris. Common, in streams, 

 and at the conflux of the fresh and salt water. It prefers a muddy, 

 or a sandy soil. The young ascend the rivers in countless multitudes 

 in March and April, and remain there during the summer. At first 

 they are translucent, and allow all the abdominal and thoracic vis- 

 cera distinctly to be seen. The skin becomes gradually opaque, and 

 finally black. They frequently, both old and young, bury themselves 

 in the mud, and in cold weather will remain there for days without 

 coming to the surface. From the obstruction to respiration such a 

 retreat must produce, and the great tenacity of life possessed by these 

 creatures, the views of Dr. M. Hall, that the quantity of respiration 

 is in the inverse ratio of the irritability, seem fully confirmed. All 

 the eel tribe are very susceptible of atmospheric changes ; cold 

 drives them to their shelters, and thunder-storms make them exceed- 

 ingly restless. But while they avoid the cold, they are able to bear 

 it to a very low degree. The young of the spring rapidly increase in 

 size, and acquire a greenish-brown colour by May and June. When 

 they have attained a size, varying from four to seven or eight inches 

 in length, they are called " whuffers " or " whiffers," I suppose from 

 their being used for the capture of pollack and mackerel in the fish- 

 ery called " whiffing," and for which the lamprey is also used. In 

 the autumn, and sometimes in the summer, they again descend the 

 rivers into brackish water ; whether because the change is agreeable 

 to themselves, or because the function of spawning demands it, is not 

 quite a settled point ; but that they do descend at that period, there 

 is no doubt, and that they will even overcome formidable obstacles in 

 their course to effect it, is equally certain. The spring migration, 

 from being in such multitudes, is the one most observed. The young 

 force their way wherever there is fresh water pouring into the sea. I 

 have known them ascend a small stream for a short distance, when 

 they have been obstructed by a waterfall of about twenty feet high ; 

 and yet on examining the wet moss on the rocks over which the wa- 

 ter fell, the eels may be found tortuously winding their way to the 

 stream above. If a stream, from the dryness of the summer, be re- 

 duced in size, the eels will quit it and travel through the wet grass in 

 search of another. I have kept eels in confinement, in large basins, 

 but they have generally effected their escape by night, which is their 

 favourite time for moving. Their mode of escaping is remarkable ; 

 they commence by throwing their tail over the edge of the vessel, and 

 that organ being a prehensile one, they then lift themselves over, and 

 so escape by their usual tortuous motion. The tail is a very power- 

 v 2 m 



