THE EEL.

Colonist, Volume LI, Issue 12488, 15 March 1909, Page 4

THE EEL.

According to Mr Theo. Gill, of the Smithsonian Institute, it is only during the last two years or so that we have learned the true story of the life history of the eel. All that is new we ■owe, to the researches of the Danish investigators, Messrs Schmidt, Peterson, and Gemzoe. And it is a very, remarkable story that we have to unfold. It has, of 'course, long been known that eels go down to the sea to spawn, hut even now it is not known how long a period elapses between the descent to the sea and the appearance of the larvae hear the surface. Two expeditions were sent out to investigate the facts, and Dr. Sshmidt tells us that the eel must spawn somewhere between three and. four thousand feet below the surface. About the middle of June the larvae are to be found some three inches in length, diaphanous, without pigment cells, with pointed snouts and slender teetli. Then gradually changes are seen -to take place. The head grows^ smaller, and more in proportion to the size of the body, and" by the time autumn is nearly over the spikelike teeth have disappeared. During .these changes they '_ sink in the day time, but remain near the surface at night. Then comes the time for the change to the true eel form. In January or February they enter the moutlis. of the streams in England, France and Ireland, while it is not until March and April . they . reach the stream s of the Scandinavian Peninsula. They are still diaphanous, and could hardly he detected at all 'but for their prominent eyes, and this peculiarity is : so marked , that a shoal of larvae looks like a multitude of little eyes floating about in' the water. The transparent ; body plays- an. important part m the protection of the larvae from their natural foes; and of these there are many, the most formidable being the cod.. But the diaphanous character is soon to .he lost. The body of the larvae begins to 'shrink until.it |s a mere thread of a couple of inches in length, and pigment is" gradually developed. At this time begins a fast which ap-. pears to last for twelve months, and the changes undergone during, thit period are distnetly marked, and are grouped: by Dr. Schmidt into sis. stages. Then comes the time when the young.: eel. the elver or glass eel, as it is '-called,. -begins to ascend the fresh waters. It must be remembered that these elvers are the off-spring ol eels that left the. river for the sea not in : the. last but the preceding autumn. Thus about 18 months elapse between the time when he parent' begins her procreative duties and that at which the off-spring is ready to begin its life work under similar conditions. And this, Mr Gill remarks, is a history very different from that of 'any ordinary fish, and, so far as is ; known, unique outside of- its genus. The growth of the eel is. detected in fresh , water by examination of its scales. It will be news to many to know that it takes the eel from eight to^ten years to complete the cycle ; some, indeed, take eight and a half years to acquire the silver tints which are the marks of maturity.