Evening journal., 1914-01-22
INVESTIGATING
The EEL NOW
Washington Expert Finds the
Fish to Fave a Remark
able history
STRANGE FACT IS
1T DOES NOT EAT

Special to TIE EVENING JOURNAL.
WASHINGTON. d. c.. Jan. "a
United States Commissioner of Fish
and Fisheries Hugh NJ Smith, in an
article written for the National Geo
graphic Society, at Washington,
dispels much mystery that has hither-
to surrounded the life OF the common
eel when the complete life of the
eel is cleared up, IL will doubtless
be shown to have a 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 extrava-
CANT hypotheses of some modern in
vestigatorE.
while the remarkable habits OF the
eel remained unknown or defed the
elucidation of the early observers
imagination ran riot, fiction and fable
we're accepted as fact and the eel
was loaded with an incubus of impos-
sibile attributes. The most extraor-
d: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.
"ln the fall the cells which have
been living in the fresh waters and
have attained their full growth under
20 peculiar changes. The eyes in the
Ice ri
NAL size. and both sexes lose their
dirty yellow-green 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
swim, their rate of travel and whether
in scattered bodies or compact
schools, are some of the still OBJ
scure phases in the cells life.
The next evidence of these cells is
met with on the high sea. far from
land. in the form of their Young pro-
geny The larval eel is such a very
different looking eel T cp no adult
that no person not property instruct
ed could by any possibility recognize
it. It is compressed laterally to the
thinness of a visiting card; il has a
small head. large eyes. formidable
hut apparently non-funciional. teeth
that project forward and latterally;
and the body is transparent through
out, the fish being practically invisi-
hle except for its glistening black
eyes. The larval eel undergoes an
extraordinary metamOrphosis Il re-
mains at sea for about one year. dur
ing which time il attains a length OF
three inches. Its larval state has
then reached its climax. and in its
subsequent growth for a time the eel
actually becomes smaller. There is
gradual change in form from the
ribbon-like to the cylindrical, a
shortcning of the body and of the in
testine. and a gradual assumption OF
The eel-like appearance.
"One of the strangest facts about
the larval eel is that It takes no food
Here is a verterbrae animal, emerg-
ing from an egg less than one-twenty-
fifth Of an inch in diameter. growing
10 length of three inches in perhaps
year buffeted about on the high
seas. and drifting over distance OF
! 600 miles OF more. and yet durina
his entire period taking no food
whatever. and doubtless incapable OF
'0'r~ 60. owing TO the unpreparcd
-~rd't'on ~ its digestive organs
Fee 3 water has 2 great attrac-
an co. the young cols. and as soon
'~ r~aci the coasts. to which
~r> -vaftcd hy the currents and
~5- Ncv seek fresh water streams