780 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[May 14, 191a 
The Breeding of Eels. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I have always been under the impression, 
from general reading of current literature on 
natural history, that what we do not know 
about fish would fill more and larger books than 
is to be found in books containing what we da 
know on the subject. I have frequently seen 
articles deploring our lack of knowledge of the 
eel, its spawning habits, etc., and must confess 
that my ignorance on .the subject is very dense. 
I was consequently astonished in reading of 
Cunningham’s “Sexual Dimorphism in the Ani¬ 
mal Kingdom” at the knowledge displayed there, 
and am curious to know how far the knowledge 
there given applies to the American eels, a curi¬ 
osity I have no doubt others share with me. It 
would certainly be interesting if some of our 
observers of the habits of animals were to tell 
us what they know, especially about so well 
known an animal as the eel. Nothing that swims 
has given rise to more myths and fables than 
has the eel from the story that eels are the 
progeny of horse hairs to the latest chapter in 
family readings of alleged curious facts in natu¬ 
ral history. I inclose a copy of Mr. Cunning¬ 
ham’s remarks on the British conger and fresh¬ 
water eel, and trust that some of our own natu¬ 
ralists may be heard from on the subject, espe¬ 
cially as far as their observations apply to state¬ 
ments made by the British author and their 
application to eels in this country. 
herring. It is easy to argue that the large size 
of the female is necessary to supply nourishment 
to the immense number of ova which she pro¬ 
duces, but that does not show what conditions 
of life and growth have given rise to the dif¬ 
ference of size between the sexes. It is possi¬ 
ble, though not yet proved, that the difference 
is not so much rate of growth as time of growth, 
the male becoming matured at an early age. 
The male salmon is known to become matured 
sometimes when only a few inches long, but then 
he grows afterward, while the conger, whether 
male or female, ceases to grow when the genera¬ 
tive organs begin to mature, and dies after the 
generative products have been once discharged. 
The increased size of the eyes in the mature 
male may be due to the greater use made of 
the organs, the ripe male perhaps ceasing to con¬ 
ceal himself and swimming about actively in 
search of the female. 
“A similar difference in size occurs in the eel. 
The largest male eel described did not exceed 
nineteen inches in length, while females, when 
adult, are from twenty-seven to thirty-nine inches 
long. Eels only become sexually mature in the 
sea, and like the conger die after breeding once. 
According to Grassi and Calandruccio the dis¬ 
coverers of the Leptocephalus larva of the eel, 
the eyes are larger in mature eels, both male and 
female, than in the immature specimens which 
inhabit fresh water.” C. A. S. 
The male organs may be distinguished readily 
by their color and by their lobular form. 
One of the most interesting facts in the life 
history of the American eel is the death of the 
adults soon after the close of the spawning 
period. The swarms of eels migrating up our 
rivers during the early spring consist entirely 
of fry or elvers. Tarleton H. Bean, 
State ‘Fish Culturist. 
“Muraenidse.—In the Muraenidae the chief sexual 
difference is the small size of the male in com¬ 
parison with the female. Whether this is true 
throughout the family, I do not know. I am 
only able to give particulars concerning the two 
British species, the conger and the freshwater 
eel. No male congers have been described which 
were more than two feet six inches in length, 
and the weight of the largest would scarcely 
exceed one pound, bemales on the other hand 
frequently exceed five feet in length, and one 
has been recorded which measured eight feet 
three inches in length and weighed 128 pounds. 
Specimens weighing fifty pounds and upward 
are not uncommon. This refers to specimens 
captured in the sea. Ripe males have frequently 
been obtained by keeping specimens alive in 
aquaria, but the females always die before they 
are quite ripe. The weight of such nearly ripe 
females after death is much less than the weight 
of large specimens newly captured, and this is 
not surprising when we consider that the female 
in the aquarium takes no food when her ovaries 
begin to ripen and continues to fast for about 
six months before she dies. The weights of 
gravid females, examined at the Plymouth 
Laboratory, varied from 16 to 33 pounds, the 
lengths from four feet six inches to five feet 
four inches. 
“The ripe male in the aquarium was observed 
to differ from the young female in three slight 
peculiarities: (1) the snout was blunter and 
flatter; (2) the eyes appeared larger in propor¬ 
tion to the head; (3) the ventral surface was 
somewhat pigmented. 
“It is difficult-to offer any explanation of the 
small size of the male conger. The testes are 
not small in proportion to the body as in the 
male sole; on the contrary, when ripe they dis¬ 
tend the body cavity, as in the case of the male 
Albany, N. Y., April 28 —Editor Forest and 
Stream: The extract sent to you by C. A. S. 
is very interesting, but your correspondent should 
consult the articles by Dr. John A. Ryder, Eugene 
G. Blackford, Dr. Carl H. Eigenmann, Dr. Theo¬ 
dore Gill and Prof. Henry C. Tracy, biological 
assistant, Wickford Station, R. I., for full mid 
valuable information oil the subject. He might 
also read the account in “American Food and 
Game Fishes,” by Jordan and Evermann, pages 
76 to 80, which is extremely interesting and 
which covers the matter fully except the larval 
changes which occur in that species. 
Dr. Ryder’s observations were published by 
the United States Fish Commission many years 
ago. Mr. Blackford’s paper is printed in an 
early report of the New York Fish and Game 
Commission. Dr. Eigenmann’s article can prob¬ 
ably be obtained by addressing him at the In¬ 
diana University, Bloomington. Dr. Gill’s brief, 
popular account was published in Science, Dec. 
11, 1908, page 845- Prof. Tracy’s paper is one 
of the most interesting and valuable of recent 
years. It is in the thirty-ninth annual report 
of the Commissioners of Inland Fisheries of 
Rhode Island, pages 43 to 55 - It contains illus¬ 
trations of the larval forms of the common eel 
and the conger eel. 
In his studies of male eels from Great South 
Bay, Long Island, Dr. Ryder observed that the 
male is smaller than the female of the same age; 
that it has very large eyes, a remarkably short 
snout and other distinguishing characters. Dis¬ 
section of gravid eels would show the difference 
of the sexes very clearly. The chief reason why 
the eggs have usually been overlooked by fisher¬ 
men is that the ovaries in which are the small 
and delicate eggs contain a mass of fatty cells in 
which the eggs are deeply imbedded so that the 
whole ovary, unless carefully examined under 
the microscope, appears to consist only of fat. 
Illinois Casting Club. 
Through the kindness of Vice-President O. C. 
Wehle, of this club, we are enabled to give the 
dates and the list of events to be cast off during 
the season at the Anglers’ Lagoon, in Washing¬ 
ton Park, Chicago. The program follows: 
May 7.—Half-ounce accuracy bait, half-ounce 
bait, accuracy fly and distance fly. 
May 21. — Quarter-ounce bait, quarter-ounce 
distance bait, light tackle accuracy dry fly and 
light tackle distance fly. 
June 4.—Half-ounce accuracy bait, half-ounce 
distance bait, accuracy fly and salmon fly. 
June 18.—Quarter-ounce accuracy bait, quarter- 
ounce distance bait, delicacy fly and light tackle 
accuracy dry fly. 
July 9.—Half-ounce accuracy bait, accuracy fly, 
light tackle distance fly and distance fly. 
July 16.—Quarter-ounce accuracy bait, delicacy 
fly, light tackle accuracy dry fly and salmon fly. 
July 30.—Half-ounce accuracy bait, half-ounce 
distance bait, accuracy fly and distance fly. 
Aug. 6.—Quarter-ounce accuracy bait, quarter- 
ounce distance bait, delicacy fly. and light tackle 
distance fly. 
Aug. 13.—Half-ounce accuracy bait, half-ounce 
distance bait, light tackle accuracy dry fly and 
salmon fly. 
Aug. 27.—Quarter-ounce accuracy bait, quar¬ 
ter-ounce distance bait and delicacy fly. 
Sept. 10.—Re-entry day. 
Contents start at 2:15 p. m. sharp. 
In case the events scheduled on any date are 
not completed they will be held on the morning 
following, beginning at 10 o’clock sharp. 
Members missing any contest may re-enter in 
same on the next scheduled contest day for that 
event, but not thereafter. Guests are welcome. 
To reach grounds take South Side Elevated to 
Fifty-fifth street station, then east beyond the 
boat house; or, Cottage Grove avenue to Fifty- 
seventh street, then west to the barns. 
The new constitution and rules are models. 
By the way, the club has changed its title slight¬ 
ly. It was the Illinois Bait-Casting Club; it is 
now known as the Illinois Casting Club. 
Newark Bait- and Fly-Casting Club. 
Newark, N. J., May 8 .—Editor Forest and 
Stream: Our first contest was held on the lake 
in Wequahic Park yesterday. The scores fol¬ 
low : 
Accuracy, Distance, Accuracy, Dist’ce 
V 2 -ounce. jounce. Fly. Fly. 
Champion . 95.4 
Doughty .96.4 
Neu .. 95.11 
Muldoon . 96.11 
Darling . 97.12 
Comppen . 94.1 
Jacobus . 94.5 
Eichlin . 96.2 
Mapes . 96.10 
Next club contest June it. Third annual in¬ 
terstate tournament, Sept. 10. 
Fred T. Mapes, Sec’y. 
79.0 
161.0 
94.3 
108.3 
50 
115.2 
135'. 6 
97.0 
97.6 
97‘.i4 
97.13 
97.7 
98.4 
95 
93 
86 
95 
64 
73 
98 
