The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1899-06-09
THE CITIZEN FREDERICK MD FRIDAY MORNING JUNE 1899
THE EEL IN WINTER
HOW THE MARKET is SUPPLIED WITH
THE SLIPPERY CREATURES.

i Many Are Brought From the Bottoms
of Sand Dune Ponds-They Burrow Un-
der the Mud and Are Speared by Thou
sands-Supply Seems Inexhaustable.
1.-THE thing that a good many folks
can't understand" said the fish dealer,
lis this They read that eels hiber-
nate-bury themselves in the mud-as
soon as cold weather comes and don't
show themselves again until warm
weather returns. and yet they see US
have cells here by the bushel all winter
long, as fat and as kinky and as slip
perry as any cells are in summer. 1t
is enough to puzzle EN-.
Behind the sand dunes of the Long
Island coast there are many small
ponds the water of which is naturally
fresh. but has been made salt, or can
be made salt, by the cutting of chan
nels TO the sea in the combining sand
dunes. This brings abundance of shell
and other fish from the sea to the
ponds. where they fatten and take on
better flavor. Native to these ponds is
a non-migratory eel-that is. it does
not leave those waters and go to the
sea in the fall. like the eel that comes
from the sea to those ponds in the
spring. There is no livelier thing in
the water during the warm months
than this native eel of the sand dune
ponds. but it is creature of thin
blood and sensitive organism. When
the water begins to grow chill as the
cool weather comes on. the eel loses
its vim and freshness, and Immediate
ly begins to burrow into the muddy
bottoms of the ponds. to lie there dor
mant until the temperature of the
water is high enough to be pleasant
again.
These cells bore into the mud foot
or more Although they are then to
pass into a state of lethargy for the
time. they must have air. To secure
this they turn their heads up toward
the top of .4eir muddy bed and punct-
ure holes through it with their noses.
This would seem to prove that cells
have lungs as well as gills and are
therefore something more than mere
cold blooded fish, Each burrowing eel
leaves two telltale indications of his
winter hiding place, the hole he went
in by and the one he makes to breathe
through.
Like the bear and the coon, the eel
goes into winter retreat laden with fat,
and. like them, he loses none of it
while he sleeps So he is never more
fit for the table In his active months
of incessant and greedy feeding than
be is at any time during the months
of his dormant fasting. This is I'M
fortunate for him. If he could only re-
duce himself to leanness before he
slowed himself away in the mud he
would rest there undisturbed in his
nap-but we would have no winter cells
in the market
When the frosty days have come
and the cells have gone into these bur-
rows the native of the sand dune coast
no longer fishes or traps for cells. He
hunts for them and gets just as much
pleasure and profit out of them. Arm
ed with barbed and many-tined
spear. he passes his boat along the
edges and over the shallower places of
the ponds where the bottom is within
easy sight. The holes in the mud be-
tray the burrows of the alternating
cells. The spear is jabbed vigorously
down through the mud. Usually,
when it is drawn out. the spear will
have an eel impaled on its barbs. and
the painful contact is sufficient to re-
store much of the creatures summer
animation. and it squirms and lashes
itself furiously over its rude awaken
ing. But whether the spear fetches up
an eel or not, the eel hunter glances
quickly about him on the contiguous
surface of the pond, for if he is over
paving eel hole an infallible sign will
appear on the surface and tell him so.
If there cells lying within a radius of
few feet from the spot where the spear
was thrust into the mud, the thrust
will be quickly followed by the ap-