Jan. 4, 1913 
FOREST AND STREAM 
15 
rock. During high water in the spring, small fish 
from the St. Lawrence could sometimes ascend 
the little streams and ditches and gain access to 
these swampy tracts which, at this season, re¬ 
sembled fair-sized ponds. Here these wandering 
fish would spawn, and each pond would have its 
quota of small pike, chub, suckers and shiners. 
By far the most plentiful, however, were the 
“black minnows,” a mottled dark and light brown 
fish which, so far as I know, never attained a 
length of more than six inches, nor were they 
ever found in the clear waters of the St. Law¬ 
rence, evidently not having their origin in that 
source. They were strong, hardy fellows, and 
for that reason much in demand for use as bait. 
In outline they somewhat resembled a trout, and 
kept in an aquarium showed “game” characteris¬ 
tics to a certain extent, refusing to feed on any¬ 
thing that was not alive. .A., living fly thrown 
upon the water would be taken with a wicked 
rush, much as a bass or trout would have taken 
it. A dead fly would, however, be ignored. .As 
the season advanced and the rains became less 
frequent, the hot sun would gradually dry up 
these ponds until finally there remained nothing 
but a few mud holes in the deepest parts. Here 
all the minnows would gather, and as the .August 
sun sucked up the little remaining water, these 
holes would become evil smelling places, swarm¬ 
ing with fish and insect life. Then we boys 
would reap our harvest and gather the minnows 
in large quantities for future use. 
One day when, preparatory to going fishing, 
I was dipping minnows from the barrel in which 
we kept them, the town fire bell commenced 
ringing, and dropping the net with its collection 
of minnows as 1 thought into the barrel, I ran 
to the fire. Fifteen hours later 1 found the net 
(which by the way was made from the arm of 
an undershirt, the top being strung on a loop 
of heavy wire and the bottom closed by tying 
a string around it) had not fallen back into the 
water as 1 supposed, but had remained hanging, 
with only about one-half inch of the extreme 
end below the string that closed it, submerged. 
This, however, had sufficed to keep the whole 
quite damp, and on looking inside I found the 
black minnows were alive, though the shiners, 
chub and suckers were all dead. This started me 
experimenting to see just how long these fish 
could live out of water, and I found that by 
carefully wrapping them loosely in a damp cloth 
and imbedding the package in wet moss, the 
black minnows could be kept out of water for 
about twenty-four hours without seeming to af¬ 
fect their vitality in the least, though in every 
case all the shiners, chub and suckers with them 
died. Wrapping some in cloth and moss, and 
putting the whole in a perforated tin box, I sent 
them from Montreal to Toronto, where the black 
minnows arrived alive, the shiners were dead. 
I now believe that, as the ponds dried up 
and the other minnows died by hundreds, the 
black minnows worked down into the mud and 
remained .alive until the fall rains gave them 
relief. This theory is strengthened by the fact 
that there was one hole, deeper than those in 
the swamp, which had no surface connection 
whatever with the river by which the minnows 
could at any time come or go, and in this place 
these minnows could be found until the surface 
dried up, and again as soon as the fall rains 
had softened the mud and filled the basin to the 
depth of a foot .or so. 
1 have known these minnows to live in a 
rusty tin boiler from September until the middle 
of February without any food or attention what¬ 
ever, and with the water actually red with rust. 
Perhaps some of your readers have a knowl¬ 
edge of this minnow and can give me its name 
or something of its life history. 
L. O. FIoward. 
Life History of the_^ Common Eel 
{Anguilla vulgaris) 
A Study in Zoology. 
There is probably no member of the zoo¬ 
logical class of fishes more familiar to the 
public than -the common eel, so far at least 
as its general appearance goes, but it is quite 
different with its habits and modes of living, 
many of which are still only partially or imper¬ 
fectly understood, notwithstanding that the eel 
has been studied with much interest by natu¬ 
ralists and others since the time of Aristotle 
over 2,200 years ago. 
Like birds, all fishes are liable to be migra¬ 
tory more or less at times, but some move at stated 
periods, and with great regularity. .Among these 
latter must be included the common eel which, 
although primarily a fresh water fish, spends the 
later portion of its existence in the salt water. 
The eel is without ventral fins, and has the 
dorsal confluent with the anal fin around the 
extremity of the tail. The skin is very smooth 
and exceedingly slippery, a quality which has, 
from time immemorial, been associated with the 
eel family so as to become proverbial. This 
slipperiness is due to a natural and constant 
exudation of slimy matter through their skin 
which greatly facilitate their movements through 
mud, weeds, drains and narrow passages. 
Although not visible on the surface, there 
are present small scales embedded in the skin, 
but these are now of no use whatever, having 
become atrophied from long disuse, and have 
passed into a rudimentary condition. 
The eel, because of its habit of going to the 
sea to spawn, is styled in zoology cafadromous, 
which habit is the exact reverse of the habits of 
the salmon and trout, which are described as 
anadromous. 
The natural impulse to make for the sea at 
the approach of the spawning season is so strong 
in the eel that if barred by any obstacle on its 
annual run, it is said that it will leave the water 
and make a detour over rocks, meadows and 
marshy grounds, in order to gain its way to 
some river or stream, so as to insure its reach¬ 
ing the sea somehow. 
If it should happen that eels fail to get 
away from their confined fresh water abode and 
, thus become land-locked, they have been known 
to spawn there for a time, but eventually it is 
Isaid that they become sterile. 
As the eel is mainly a fresh water fish, it 
is only natural that it should, as it does, speiid 
most of its life in lakes, rivers and ponds in 
Europe and America, chiefly within the temperate 
zones. 
P'he eel is exceedingly voracious and is prac¬ 
tically omnivorous. Although free swimmers 
when necessary, they spend most of their time 
in the mud and burrow there, and in the soft 
banks of the rivers and lakes. For the purpose 
of feeding they frequently appear at the mouth 
of their burrows, and greedily devour worms, 
insects, dead fish and other animal matter and 
refuse carried down by the passing currents. 
Being nocturnal in their habits, the eels feed 
mostly at night. Although ordinarily the length 
of an adult eel is from two and a half to three 
feet, they grow occasionally to the length of four 
or five feet. The female is usually larger than 
the male of the same age. 
Although much prejudice seems to have al¬ 
ways existed against the cel, a fact which is 
probably due to its snake-like appearance, it is 
nevertheless regarded as a very important article 
of food both in this country and in Europe, and 
its flesh is highly prized because of its tenderness 
and its savory qualities. 
Once every year, usually toward the end of 
October, the eels seem to be impelled by some 
mysterious impulse to quit their natural fresh 
water habitat, and to make for the sea in vast 
numbers. With one accord and simultaneously 
the whole eel population (of spawning capacity) 
of the lakes, rivers and ponds, start on what is 
called a “run” toward the sea. This unanimous 
migration takes place invariably at night, and 
the darkest night is usually selected for the 
operation. 
These runs are the fisherman's opportunity, 
and enormous catches of the fish are made on 
such occasions by means of eel weirs and various 
kinds of traps set along the river routes. Not 
only are such catches usually very large, but the 
fish are certain to be in the finest condition com¬ 
ing up to the spawning period. 
P'or some obscure reason the eels will only 
spawn in the salt water, and it is evidently for 
this purpose alone that the annual visit to the 
sea is made. After spawning, the fate of the 
parent eel is still a matter of much difference of 
opinion and uncertainty even among those who 
have some claim to be regarded as authorities 
on the subject. Certain it is that the bes.t opinion 
seems to be that the vast majority of eels never 
again return to the fresh water after spawning 
takes place. Some authorities say they die in 
the sea, but if so there surely ought to be some 
evidence of the fact apparent, but none has been 
forthcoming. What would seem to be the most 
likely explanation is this: When spawning is 
over, no doubt the eels find themselves at the 
disadvantage of being placed in a new and to 
them strange environment for which they are but 
ill adapted, and hence they soon become an easy 
prey to voracious and predatory marine fishes, 
sucli as sharks, rays, dogfish, etc., and are likely 
to be soon devoured by them, a fact which would 
account for the complete disappearance of the 
eel after reaching the sea. 
After the lapse of about a year the young 
or larval eel instinctively makes for the estuaries, 
the mouths of rivers and streams, and worms its 
way through moss-covered stones and works 
clear over the highest waterfalls, including 
Niagara, and continues its course till it covers 
the furthest reaches of the rivers and streams 
of the country, getting into the lakes, ponds and 
marshy places wherever they can manage to find 
a suitable place to take up their settled abode. 
In this way all the fresh water of the cotintry 
becomes restocked with eels, which in turn re¬ 
peat, again and again, the parental history, and 
thus is the eel population of the fresh waters 
constantly renewed and maintained from year 
to year. 
