The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1914-01-22
EEI'S LIFE
And History Are Discussed by
the Federal Commissioners of
Fish and Fisheries.

WASHINGTON, ID. c., Jan 22-
United States Commissioner OF Fish
and Fisheries Hugh NJ Smith, in an
article written for the National
Geograph.c Society, at Washington
dispels much mystery that has hfth-
erto surrounded the life OF the com ON
mon eel. when the complete life
OF the eel is cleared up, it Will
doubtless be shown to have a more
remarkable history than any other
fish possesses" he says. tThe estab-
lisneds facts are in some respects
more extraordinary than the fabu-
lous views of ancient and medieval
writer's and the extravagant hypo-
theses of some modern Investigators.
t'While the remarkable habits OF
| the eel remained unknown or dedeu
the calculation of the early obsery-
ers, imagination ran riot, fiction and
fable were accepted as fact, and the
eel was loaded with an incubus OF
impossible attributes. The most ex-
ltraordinary theories and beliefs nave
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
misconcepti ons has been the sact
that eels do not spawn within the
confines of the continents or where
human observation is possible.
'Tn the fall the cells which have
been living in the fresh waters and
have attained their full growth un-
dergo peculiar changes. Tie eyes
in the male become nearly twice
their normal size, and both sexes
lose their dirty yellow-green color
and become silyery. Such cells NIL
crate 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 obscure phases in the
cells life.
Is met with on the high seas, far
from land, in the form of their
young progeny. The larva1 eel Is
such a very different looking eel
from the adult that no person not
properly instructed could iby any
possibility recognize 1t. 1T is COM
pressed laterally to the thinness OF
a visiting card; it has a small head,
large eyes, formidable, but appar-
emily UNCONVENTIONAL, teeth that
project forward and lateTally; and.
the body is transparent throughout,
the fish being practically invisible
except for its glistening black eos.
The larva1 eel undergoes an extracr-
binary metamorphosfs. ut rer;a rs
at sea for about one year, during
which time it attains a length OF
three inches. ITS larval state has
then reached Its climax, and in Us
subsequent growth for time the
eel actually becomes smaller. There
is a gradual change in form I'm the
rftiton-lfke to the cylindrical,
shortening OF the body and OF the
intestine, and gradual assumption
of the eel-ltke appearance.
''One of the strange facts about
the larval eel is that it takes no
food. Here is vertebrate animal.
emery ng from an egg less than one
twenty-fifth 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 q
distance OF 1000 miles or more. and
vet during this entire period taking
no food whatever, and doubtless in
ca paIble of doing so, owing to the un-
prepared condition OF IT'S digestive
organs.
'FNresh water has great attrac-
ton for the young cells, and as soon
rs they reach the coasts, to whicn
| they are waited by the currents ana
winds. they seek fresh water streams
and begin to ascend them some
eels remain in the lower parts Of the
streams and move back and forth IN
the bays and estuarTes, and others
y Ii