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known them to destroy £3 worth of net in a night ; he has got seven 
or eight hooks in one of them ; they can bite through rope as thick as his 
finger. I have seen large quantities brought ashore by fishermen in 
summer and autumn, at various parts of the Down coast, all of which 
were taken on hook and line. They do not sell in Belfast market, but 
Mr. Meenan gets more for them by weight in Liverpool than for cod-fish 
and haddock. — April, 1850. 
Mr. M. tells me that there is a kind of dark-coloured conger eel, which 
frequents rocky ground, and does not average more than half the weight 
of those taken in soft ground. I questioned him particularly about it, 
and found it to be in every respect analogous to rock cod. 
A fisherman at Larne Lough states that these eels destroy the mullet 
caught in his nets so much that he sets lines outside his net for them, 
baited with what he calls “ white bait.” He has the double object of 
catching the eels and protecting the mullet. He dries and salts the eels 
like ling for his own use, with the difference of skinning the eels ; the 
skins are all preserved, they are used for the hanging of flails, &c. 
Robert Langtry, Esq., informs me that he once cut the head off a 
conger, and holding the severed head in his hand his servant set about 
taking the hook out of its mouth, when the teeth closed on his thumb, 
as if in life, and bit him desperately. It was only by cutting the jaws to 
pieces that the thumb was liberated.* 
Mr. Templeton’s note on this species is as follows : — ■ 
“ Common. — Several years ago a vessel was wrecked on the coast of Rathlin, 
laden with salt herrings. The congers ate voraciously of the salt fish, and great 
numbers died and were washed on shore after this unlucky feast, for several 
days.” — Templeton' s Catalogue. 
The conger eels in the neighbourhood of Cork suffered from the effects 
of cold in the early part of the year 1841, about the same time that a 
mortality prevailed among the sharp-nosed eels at Belfast, as mentioned 
when treating of that species. The facts relating to the conger were com- 
municated to me by Francis M. Jennings, Esq., of Cork, in a letter dated 
18 March, 1841, and published in the Annals of Nat. Hist., vol. vii. p. 236. 
From this letter the following extract is made : — 
“During the 5th, 6th, and 7th of February, the ground being covered with 
snow and the weather intensely cold, the boatmen in the vicinity of Passage, 
Monkstown, and Carrigaloe, captured considerable numbers of the conger eel 
(. Anguilla conger , Linn.) of all sizes, varying from a foot to five and six feet in 
length. Many of them were left on the strand as the tide receded, some dead, 
but the greater number alive ; others were followed in boats as they swam near 
the surface of the water, and killed with sticks, whilst many committed suicide 
by swimming up on the strand. In a similar way they were caught from Hop 
Island to Ringaskiddy, a distance of five miles on the west side of the Lee, and 
from Smith Barry’s Bay to the Limekiln opposite Monkstown, (about three 
miles) on the east side. Those which were taken on Hop Island seem to have 
been washed up by the tide, as they were dead. 
“ It appears strange that a fish like the eel, usually found at the bottom of the 
* Mr. R. Patterson was witness, many years ago, at Holywood, to a similar 
occurrence. Two fishermen had brought the produce of their long-line fishing 
to the shore ; among their captures was a large conger eel, off which they 
chopped the head, left it lying on the beach, and departed ; a little bare-footed 
boy strolling along soon afterwards began “ poking ” his toes into the mouth of 
the eel. To his amazement the jaws closed on his foot, and held him fast until 
his cries brought the neighbours to his assistance. 
