CHAPTER LV 
THE ORDER OF EELS 
APODES 
Whenever a fish-like creature looks so much 
like a snake that it becomes necessary to inform 
people “it is not a snake, but a fish,” then it is 
time to place it and all such creatures at the foot 
of the class of Bony Fishes. But for the good, 
hard bones in its skeleton, its descent to a posi- 
tion below the Order of Rays would be swift and 
sure. 
As a real fish, an eel is little more than a cari- 
cature, and he who eats it must first skin it, just 
as the Dyaks of Borneo do their water-snakes 
before they roast them. It is the vulture of the 
waters, and prefers to feed upon things dead. 
But, again are we reminded that there is no 
accounting for differences in taste. Both in 
Europe and America, they have been eaten ever 
since the days of the Cave-Dweller and Mound- 
Builder. And even to-day they are devoured, 
not with toleration, but with a degree of avidity 
worthy of better meat. 
A German writer who catalogued the good 
points of the eel set forth prominently the fact 
that it is an excellent scavenger, and devours 
dead fish, crabs, and any fleshy prey, living or 
dead, that it can secure. Those who wish to 
pursue the subject of the food-habits of the eel 
to its logical conclusion can find it in a notable 
epic by Canon Ingoldsby, entitled “The Knight 
and the Lady.” 
Nevertheless, in times past, the eel has con- 
tributed a great store of edible flesh to the people 
of New England, — where some of the finest of 
fishes have always been abundant! There, eels 
are eaten — stewed, fried, pickled and salted. The 
flavor of an eel is not half bad, but its choice of 
food is decidedly objectionable. If eels are to 
be eaten by civilized people, then why draw the 
line at sharks, whose flesh is far superior to that 
of eels ? 
The United States Bureau of Fisheries has 
taken the eel quite seriously, and been at 
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considerable pains to introduce it in the upper 
Mississippi valley, the great lakes above Niagara 
Falls, and on the Pacific coast. And yet, Profess- 
or Baird recorded this very pertinent statement : 
“It [the eel] is, however, a very undesirable 
inmate of rivers in which fish are taken by means 
of gill-nets, the destruction of shad and herring 
in the waters of the Susquehanna and others 
farther south being enormous. It is not unfre- 
quent that, when a gill-net is hauled up, the greater 
part of the catch consists simply of heads and 
back-bones, the remainder being devoured by myr- 
iads of eels in the short time the net is left out.” 
THE ELECTRIC EEL. 
Is such a rapacious scavenger as this a species 
worthy of introduction in any new waters save 
those of an avowed enemy? 
The maximum length of the Common Eel' is 
about four feet, but the average length is less than 
three feet. The female lays an enormous number 
of eggs, — estimated at ten millions, — preferably 
in salt water ; but the young enter fresh water to 
develop, and ascend as far as they can go. 
The Electric Eel 2 of South America is an Eel 
worth knowing. Having had with it some thrill- 
ing experiences, I can speak of it feelingly. 
Once while canoeing for zoological specimens 
1 An-gu-il'la vul-gar'is. 
2 Gym-no' tus e-lec'tri-cus. 
