The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1914-06-25
WHAT Do
YOU KNOW
ABOUT EELS
THIS YOU
DON'T KNOW
DIsPELLs MUCH MYSTERY
That Has Hitherto Surrounded
the Life of This Most Re-
markable Fish.
OIsPELLs MUCH MYSTERY

Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries
Hugh NJ. Smith, in an article writ
ten for the National Geographic So
ciety, at Washington, dispels much
mystery that has hitherto surround
ed the life of the common eel when
the complete life of the eel is cleared
I'D, it will doubtless be shown to have
more remarkable history than any
other fish possesses" he says. "The
established facts are in some respects
more extraordinary than the fabulous
views of ancient and medieval writer's
and the extravagant hypothesis of
some modern investigators.
while the remarkable habits of the
eel remained unknown or defied the
calculation of the early observers,
Imagination ran riot, fiction and fable
| were accepted as fact, and the eel
was loaded with an incubus of impos-
sible attributes. The most extraordi-
nary theories and beliefs have been
entertained regarding the spawning
habits of the eel, from the time of
Aristotle to the present day The
cause of all the speculations and mis-
conceptions has been the fact that
cells do not spawn within the confines
of the continents or where human OBJ
| servation is possible.
In the fall the cells which have
| been living in the fresh waters and
have attained their full growth I'M
dergo peculiar changes. The eyes in
the males become nearly twice their
| normal size, and both sexes lose their
| dirty yellowgreen color and become
silvery. Such cells migrate down
stream travelling mostly at night, and
eventually reach the sea, where all
trace of them is lost. Their behavior
in the sea, the depths at which they
show their rate of travel, and wheth-
er in scattered bodies or compact
schools, are some of the still obscure
phases in the cells life.
"The next evidence of these cells is
met with on the high seas, far from
land, in the form of their young pro-
geny. The larval eel is such very
diffcrent-lCoking eel from the adult
that no person not properly instruct
ed could by any possibility recognize
it. It is compressed laterally to the
thinness of visiting card; it has
small head, large eyes, formidable,
but apparently non-functional, teeth
hat project forward and lateraly:
and the body is transparent through
out, the fish being practically invisi-
BILE except for its glistening black
eyes. The larvel eel undergoes an
extraordinary metamorpIosis. 1t re-
mains at sea for about one year. dur
ing which time it attains length of
three inches. Its larval state has
then reached it's climax, and in it's
subsequent growth for time the eel
actually becomes smaller. There is a
gradual change in form from the
ribbon-like to the cylindrical, short
ening of the body and of the intes-
tine, and 4 gradual assumption of the
eel-like appearance.
Zone of the strangest facts about |
the larval eel is that it takes no food. |
Here is vertebrate animal, emerging |
from an egg less than one-twenty- |
of an inch in diameter, growing to a |
length of three inches in perhaps "a |
year, buffeted about on the high seas, |
and drifting over a distance of 1000 |
miles or more, and yet during this en-
tire period taking no food whatever,
and doubtless incapable of doing so, |
owing to the unprepared condition of |
its digestive organs.
Fresh water has a great attrac-
ton for the young cells, and as soon
as they reach the coasts, to which
they are waited by the currents and
winds, they seek fresh water streams
and begin to ascend them Some cells
remain in the lower parts of the
streams and move back and forth in
the bays and estuaries, and others
press on to the headwaters, often sur
mounting Instructions that would be
impassable for other fish, and remain
there until full maturity is attain
ed
"The habits of the eel at the time
OF spawning are entirely unknown.
The eggs are never deposited in wa.
ter less than 1000 meters deep. They
hatch at or near the surface, where
they are carried by their natural
buoyancy. From counts and estimates
based on immature specimens, it is
evident that the cells are the most pro-
life of all fishes and of all back
boned creatures. From 100000 to
100000 eggs are probably produc-
ed by the average-sized cells, and 49,
100000 to 20,0O00O0 must be deposited
by the largest examples. One of the
most surprising facts in the cells life