THE COMMON SAND EEL. 
237 
long. D. 56 (first very short) ; P. 13; A. 29; C. 15. In all the characters of 
form and relative proportion of parts it agrees with the descriptions of Yarrell 
"and Jenyns. In colour this species is of a dark bluish green, while the A. Lan- 
cea is of a sandy hue, like the atherine ( A . Presbyter ), but tinged partially on 
the hack and sides with bluish green. From the mouth of the specimen described 
I took a small individual of its own species :* Bloch and Couch mentions simi- 
lar instances. 
“ The largest A. Lancea procured at Dundrum was 8 inches long. D. 54 ; P. 
II ; A. 27 ; C. 14. 
“ Dorsal fin commencing e in a line with the last quarter,’ and not above ‘ the 
middle ’ of the pectoral fins.” 
Mr. M‘Coy mentions (Annals Nat. Hist., vol. vi. p. 405), “ This fish is 
frequent in the sand at Malahide, County Dublin, in company with the 
common species.” 
The Common Sand Eel, (The Sand-Launce, Yarrell, The small- 
mouthed Launce, Jenyns ,) Ammodytes Lancea, Cuv., 
Is common around the coast. 
See remarks on this species, incorporated with those on the preceding 
one. 
Terns and various other aquatic birds prey upon the sand eel, with 
which they frequently feed their young. Dr. Jas. D. Marshall says it 
<c furnishes a favourite food to the different sea-fowl frequenting the island of 
Rathlin, Co. Antrim.” He adds, “ almost every sea-fowl I had an opportunity of 
examining had the mouth and stomach filled with the fry of this fish ; and from 
the innumerable flocks of birds which reside here during summer the quantity 
of fry devoured at this period must be quite incalculable.”! 
Sand Eels. — Newcastle, Co. Down, July 26th, 1851. I walked to the inner 
bay of Dundrum to-day at low water, and came up with an old man and 
his son, who were on their way to the sand eel fishing. The old man had 
a rudely formed fishing basket slung behind him, and the boy carried an 
old shovel ; to my inquiring why the shovel was taken, as I had never 
seen anything but old reaping hooks used here, it was replied that the 
fish were sometimes so deep in the sands that they required to be dug 
out ; he also produced an old hook from his basket. I joined them to go 
to the fishing. We crossed the sand-hills over to the strait which lies 
between the outer and inner bays of Dundrum, and suddenly on a high 
sloping bank above the fishing-ground we came upon about twenty-five 
or thirty men, women, boys, and girls, lying there with their fishing 
baskets and other paraphernalia, awaiting the falling of the tide. On 
my remarking that it was a pity of the poor sand eels if they were all 
going to attack them, it was said, “We are not near all come yet.” The 
fishing soon commenced, and I was surprised to see the Ammodytes 
shovelled out from shelly and gravelly sand, to a depth of two feet, 
on the surface of which my weight hardly left a foot-mark. I saw many 
* An observant friend once saw a sand eel about 4 inches in length taken with 
bait, which was either a piece of herring or a composition of feathers — the latter 
a common bait for the coal-fish ( Merlangus Carbonarius ) in the Nortlnpf Ire- 
land. 
f Paper on the Statistics and Natural History of the Island of Rathlin. Trans. 
Royal Irish Academy, 1836. 
[24 adult sand eels were taken "from the stomach* of Mergus serrator'Joy Dr. 
Ball, in the winter of 1837 Ed.] 
