The New York herald., 1922-05-28
The Mystery Of the Eel.

The Mystery OF the Eel.
Here Is how the mystery of the eel is de-
fined by John Woodbury. Sprout: This
morning. after many years. have been
watching the cells in the old shipyard brook.
In my boyhood days of the delights of
June morning. before school. was to watch
the little cells passing up the brook One
after another. single file. they would cross
the field of vision in the stream and move
on out of sight among the rocks and grass.
do not see as they have changed in the
least. Indeed, l should say that those cells
faring UP the brook this morning are the
same ones that l watched so long ago. so
exactly do they move in the same file. under
the shadows OF the same rocks, to disappear
under the same overhanging grasses Strange
and interesting creatures are those tiny eeis!
They are Just arrived this morn morning from ,, "a
the Atlantic and far down In its silent
depths.
old father or uncle has guided them, but
starting as soon they were out the cradle,
they have been nearly year reaching this
part of the old shipyard brook. And now
here they are, each about three inches long.
about as big around a knitting needle,
moving up the brook head to tail, ike one
to get up this brook somewhere. for while
the daylight lasts that endless line con-
tinues.
told is belt running north and south in
the depths of the ocean. Down there. where
the silence is unbroken and the aayign. gs
and dies. The young as soon as hatcneu htsi
begin to climb toward the surface until
Iarvnl form slowly swim toward the shore:
In this form they present the appearance OF
piece of ribbon with eyes wiggling througn
the water. Under the. name OF narrow
heads these pieces of ribbon. about half
inch wide. in great multitudes, from o0o 10
300 feet below the surface. graceiniiy a SWIM
shoreward Before they reach the snore.
however, they change the form OF their
bodies, narrowing themselves down 10 tlny
string perfectly TRs glass eel Is very
energetic and begins TO make RAPID prosreAs
toward his goal.
Seeks Shallow Water.
but what is he hurrying shoreward lot
why does he seek the shallow water WHO
was born In the deep. and painfuiiy chinu
along the falls Of these brooks, into the
merest drains, sometimes even into the iieias
and grasses? That Is the mystery ,s hyoo It this @
season. but burrow In the most out OF the
way place. And sometimes he Will get deep
into the mud we boys often ,b aug road unf' and IS
sometimes dry. Sometimes they go Two OF
three feet below the bed. Many OF ther, 90
and there they remain often thirty years.
Last summer a boy down In camp cauknt
one nearly four feet long, Tnat eel wss ,an
thirty years old at least. They never spamt pay.
~ fresh water Sooner or later the great
rormandzer viii slip through the dam ana %
HE himself to the depths again. wnere the
home is made and the little ones are poIn. i
yhv do these cells come up the prooNs
Ono reason Is that food is more apunnah,
there and the danger to life Is less but l
am wondering how they heard ABOUT .nis
old shipyard brook or this oid iieiu @ % hes,,avs
above IL and when. Biologists now pehevs ~,
that fish invariably turn back 70 ,ne oIu
haunts for spawning. The origina, naosia sia
tIons in which they began lite, WIN l.ne
sense OF mystery haunts their forage GAYS.
evantuailv calling or impelling them az ias.
10 turn backward and leave their egss az
tSeir life contribution to the old nomeiaho.
We Ali turn to the old Childhood nome at
But why did this eel learn 70 stray? Other
oois there are OF great size VINO neNeI
teave the abysmal depths. IL mas pse,l
surrested that those who migrate INTO w
brooks and fields originally may have hveu ,
in ths shadows of the sea. and that tnis
turning 10 the depths at last Is the ACQUIRED
trait or may II not be possible that tnls
Ala shiuyard brook and adjoining field were
once the ocean bed. aiepawnins ground TOT
lire eel and that the habit OF spawning ln
deen water takes him out into the Atlantlc.
ond the memory OF old haunts, now greatly
mod,fIed. but still there, calls the eeis back
10 the brooks and the grasses7 There Is
room, enough in the study OF this strange
little wanderer for thousand tneories we
nav never be able TO verify. but one thing
n certain; the marvellous story OF this old
earth and It's wonderful children far sur