COMMON EEL. 
1031 
sioned in 1607 to fish the River Arno at Pisa between 
the bridge nearest to the sea and the middle bridge, 
took within the space of live hours more than 3,000 
pounds of Eels in seines alone. Another fisherman of 
the same river, only half a mile (5,000 paces) from the 
sea, caught just at daybreak more than 200 pounds of 
Eels which were so young and small that about 1,000 
of them went to the pound — I mean a Tuscan pound, 
which contains 12 ounces. But not all the Eels are of 
the same size when they enter fresh water ’; by far the 
greater number measure, according to his appended li- 
gures, about 35 — 55 mm., the remainder about 70 — 
140 mm. On the same experience the great Eel-fishery 
of the lagoons off Comacchio, at the mouth of the Po, 
has been based since time immemorial. Here the ex- 
tensive system of lagoons has been divided by means 
of dams and dikes into broads and canals, where the 
Eels can lead their fresh- water life. Every year, on 
the 2nd of February, all the sluices are opened, free 
ingress from the Adriatic being thus afforded to the 
ascending Elvers, which struggle up against the current, 
swollen as it is by the winter rains. By far the greater 
number of them are under 6 — 8 mm. in length, accord- 
ing to Jacoby. On fine days they keep to the bottom; 
at night and in cloudy weather they swim nearer to 
the surface. This Eel-fare , called by the Italians mon- 
tata (the French montee ), lasts three months. Towards 
the end of April the sluices are closed. They are again 
opened at the end of September, when the summer 
drought has so reduced the volume of the lagoons that 
the water of the Adriatic streams in. At this season 
the sexual instinct awakes in the old Eels — from 4 to 
6, or, according to some, as much as 10 years of age — 
and they set out on their seaward migration. But their 
path is barred by the fisherman’s devices; intricate 
systems of weirs guide them into large baskets, where 
the Eels first congregate, to be afterwards transferred 
to the broad boats which we have mentioned above. 
This fishery with all its contrivances depends on a 
knowledge of the migrations undertaken by the Eel, 
and was already old when Torquato Tasso, in his La 
Gerusalemme Liberata, compared Tancred in the am- 
bush to the Eels in this labyrinth. 
In Sweden too, time out of mind, the fisherman 
has set Eel-nets ( lanor ) and constructed Eel-traps with 
a Ann., Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 6, vol. XII (1893), p. 35. 
b Lillj., Sv., Norg. Fisk., vol. Ill, p. 392. 
the entrance opposed to the stream for the admittance 
of the descending Eels. In our rivers and lakes this 
downward migration begins in May, but does not be- 
come general until the dark nights set in, towards the 
close of August. “In the neighbourhood of Upsala”, 
writes Sundevall, “Baron Cederstrom was informed 
that before midsummer the Eels haunt the large beds 
of reeds and horsetail on the lower course of the Fyris. 
During July (“till St. Olaf’s Day”, the 29th), when 
these reed-beds are cut, they descend into the arm of 
Lake Millar known as Ekoln, into which the Fyris falls. 
At the beginning of August great quantities of Eel are 
taken there on long-lines with 400 hooks. The Eels 
proceed down this bay to Sko Land, the south coast 
thereof, where the depth is greatest, measuring 20 — 30 
fathoms. Here they are taken for a. short time in the 
middle of August, after which they disappear”. During 
its sojourn in fresh water the Eel retains its keen appe- 
tite; but less and less food is consumed as the sexual 
instinct asserts itself, and as the true migratory dress, 
the pale belly, is adopted. Frequently the migrating 
Eels knot themselves together in bunches, and large 
bundles, often a fathom in circumference, are seen lying 
still in the lakes or trundling down the streams. On 
reaching the sea the Eel proceeds on its way to the 
spawning, grounds. Their situation has not yet been 
ascertained; but Calderwood" mentions a female 297 2 
in. (749 mm.) long and “almost ready to spawn” that 
was taken on the 27th of December, 1892, about 12 
miles south of the Eddystone, or 20 miles from the 
nearest point of land, Raine Head. That the Eel of 
Swedish waters spawns partly in the Baltic, seems pro- 
bable, young Eels 7 or 8 cm. long having been found 
both in the Roslag (Upland) and in the Ljusne Elf'. 
But the main body of the Swedish migratory Eels roves 
along the Baltic coast and round Scania out through 
the Sound, perhaps too, in company with Russian and 
German Eels, through the Belts. That the Eel spawns 
in the Cattegat, is proved by the multitude of Eel-fry 
1 / 2 — 1 dm. long so often to be observed in spring and 
summer all along the west coast of Sweden making 
their way into fresh water. In the north of the Sound, 
nearer to the Swedish than to the Danish coast, is a 
deep channel with more than 10, in places 20 fathoms 
of water, where Eel-fry occur in myriads during win- 
Scandinavian Fishes. 
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