MYSTERY OF THE EEL.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 289, 6 December 1928, Page 8

MYSTERY OF THE EEL.

SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION.

CRUISE OF THE DANA. DOMINION ITINERARY PLANNED. CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF NORTH ISLAND. April is the month of the tuna heke or eel migration, when in their teeming thousands the fish go down the New Zealand rivers to the sea, never to return, although later in each year the frail little elvers, likewise in their teeming thousands come back. Nobody knows where the New Zealand eel spawns, although the Maoris aver that it is somewhere out in those unplumbed depths off the Kermadeca. It is with the intention of finding out more about eels, and incidentally other ocean life, that a Danish scientific expedition will shortly be in New Zealand waters. The leader is Professor J. Schmidt. The other scientists connected with the expedition are on board the trawler Dana, now on the way from Noumea to Auckland.

The date of the arrival of the Dana is problematical, although somewhere about December 16. Oα the way down the sub-equatorial current which flows in the direction of Australia- will be investigated with the modern trawling gear on board, and samples of ocean organism will be collected. A call is to be made at the Kermadec Islands. The Dana will circumnavigate the North Island after leaving Auckland, before going on to Sydney. From there the Dana will go to Japan, thence through the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea on the way back to Denmark.

Considerable interest attaches to the pending exploratory work by the expedition. It is known that the sub-equa-torial current, after striking the Australian coast, comes across to the South Island of the Dominion, and then turns north, a portion being diverted through Cook Strait. There is also a current from the direction of the Antarctic which strikes the easterly side of the South Island, and then is diffused in the direction of the Chatham Islands. The principal investigation will be in connection with the sub-equatorial current, which in the ocean between New Zealand and the Kermadecs is expected to yield a valuable haul of ocean life. The expedition has gear which will enable trawling to be done at varying depths at the same time, also for samples of sea water to be taken.

Two years ago Professor Schmidt was in New Zealand investigating the habits of the New Zealand eel, and it is hoped that the Dana's cruise round the North Island will throw additional light oa the habits of that particular fish. It has been proved that the Dominion has two varieties of eel, one peculiar to the north and the other to the south, although in the vicinity of Cook Strait and for some distance along the coasts from there the two varieties mingle. Professor Schmidt left this moraine for Rotorua, where he will make a study of thermal activity for comparative purposes with Iceland and other countries I e has visited before returning to Auckland to meet the other members of the expedition arriving on the Dana.