Conger eel

“ The curve, the line of beauty, is the symbol of their every act; there are no angles in their world. They glide hither and yon, seemingly without an effort, and always with wavy, oscillating gracefulness. The acme of this sinuosity of movement is reached with those long-drawn-out fishes the eels. Of these there are two gigantic species represented here—the conger, a dark-skinned, rather ill-favored fellow, and the beautiful Italian eel, with a velvety, leopard-spotted skin. These creatures are gracefulness itself. ”

“ Occasionally it will feed in mid-water or even close to the surface. The conger eel (Conger vulgaris) is another night-feeder, which gives fine sport, as it grows to a great size, and is very powerful. Strong tackle is essential for conger fishing, as so powerful an opponent in the darkness cannot be given any law. The bait must be on or near the bottom. There are, of course, many other fish which come to the angler's rod at times, but the list given is fairly complete as representing the species which are especially sought. ”

“ The voracity of the Conger Eel is very great, and it is one of the most powerful enemies with which the fishermen of the British islands have to contend. Being usually caught by a hook and line, it requires some care to land and kill the large ones without danger. We are informed that, on such occasions, they have been known to entwine themselves round the legs of a fisherman, and fight with the utmost fury. They are almost incredibly strong and tenacious of life. ”

“ Conger-eels are sometimes 100lb. in weight, and extremely voracious, preying on other fish, as well as on crabs, when these have cast their shells, and are in a soft state.—Being exceedingly fond of carcasses of any kind, their flesh, though difficult of digestion, is very agreeable, and in great request among epicures. Persons afflicted with nervous, asthmatic, and consumptive disorders, ought, however, carefully to abstain from eel-pies, or any dishes prepared of that luxurious fish. ”

“ Only one other species of the family occurs in British waters, namely, the conger, which is usually much larger and lives in the sea. In the conger the eyes are larger than in the eel, and the upper jaw overlaps the lower, whereas in the eel the lower jaw projects beyond the upper. Both species are voracious and predatory, and feed on almost any animal food they can obtain, living or dead. ”

“ In a different way, the conger eels are nearly as hard to kill, particularly the big ones, which are no joke to handle when one is wading barelegged. One must be on the alert every moment—torch blazing, spear poised. One moment you jump on a mushroom of coral to avoid a pair of sea snakes, long, slender and spotted—active, fearless creatures whose bite is said to be a serious matter; a moment later you are slipping and scrambling at top speed to cut off some large fish, working his way through the shallows. ”

“ Kilve, in common with other villages situated on this part of the Somerset shore, indulges in a curious kind of sport: that of “hunting the conger.” It is in the autumn that the unfortunate conger-eel is taken unawares, through the low tides that then generally prevail. The conger, known here as the “glatt,” is the big brother of the ordinary sand-eel, who is dug out of the foreshore, all round our coasts. He lives in the blue lias mud hereabouts, generally beneath the boulders that are sprinkled about the shore like currants in a bun ”

“ In the olden days in Hikueru I would have perished, for that puhi eel, the conger-eel, was taboo, sacred as a god, here and 228in many islands. To eat that eel or harm him was to break the taboo. More than eighty people of Fakaofa were driven from that island for eating the puhi, and they drifted for weeks before they reached Samoa. The vaaroa, the long-mouthed eel, is dangerous to the diver. ”

“ With the single exception of the savage dog-fish, I know no fish so awkward to handle as a conger-eel. The large congers are really dangerous customers, as any one will be inclined to agree with me who has once had a view of their formidable jaws. ”

“ The conger-eel, however, devours the octopus, for owing to the slipperiness of its antagonist the octopus can make nothing of it. The crawfish feeds on little fish, capturing them beside its hole or dwelling place; for, by the way, it is found out at sea on rough and stony bottoms, and in such places it makes its den. Whatever it catches, it puts into its mouth with its pincer-like claws, like the common crab. Its nature is to walk straight forward when it has nothing to fear, with its feelers hanging sideways ”

“ We often should fare better and save money if we lengthened our list. Codfish, haddock, plaice, flounders, and the ever-welcome sole are in fine condition, but herrings and mackerel are not to be recommended. Smelts, whitings, and red mullet are still in season. Of late years the conger-eel has taken up a position formerly denied to him, and although in bad odour, on account of his cheapness, he is not a bad fish when carefully dressed, and, above all things, makes an excellent soup. Shell-fish are scarce, dear, and—with the exception of oysters—are not so good as later in the season. ”

“ Conger eel cut into slices one inch thick, halibut, plaice, mackerel, treated in the same manner (if large they must be crimped) will keep for some time; they can he boiled, baked, broiled, or fried. A pound haddock will take twelve minutes broiling, from fifteen to twenty frying, twenty minutes baking or boiling. ”

“ The grey mullet is often found alive with its tail lopped off, and the conger with all that part of its body removed that lies to the rear of the vent; in the case of the mullet the injury is wrought by the basse, in that of the conger-eel by the muraena. There is war between the larger and the lesser fishes: for the big fishes prey on the little ones. ”

“ A cheerful blaze of wood soon caused the kettle to boil, and over my tea-supper I congratulated myself over my lucky adventure, for to lose neither fish, canoe, nor self, was indeed a large slice of luck.
Next day I improvised a pair of scales with the help of a half hundredweight and a seven-pound weight which I possessed, and found to my surprise that the monster weighed one hundred and three pounds. This was not only the largest eel I ever caught, but the largest I ever saw. In Guernsey market the heaviest conger I saw was one of sixty-seven pounds—a baby in comparison to mine! ”

“ This fish is delicate eating, and the largest are accounted the best; its form has more affinity to the conger than to our fresh-water eel, and much resembles, if it be not exactly the same species caught in the small streams of Norfolk Island in the Pacific Ocean. Whence it is that fresh-water fish should be found on small islands, frequently at several hundred leagues from other land, will probably long remain one of the secrets of nature ”

“ Theophrastus, in the fifth book of his treatise on those Animals which can live on dry Land, says that the eel and the lamprey can exist for a long time out of the water, because they have very small gills, and so receive but very little moisture into their system. But Icesius affirms that they are not less nutritious than the eel, nor even, perhaps, than the conger. And Aristotle, in his treatise on the Parts of Animals, says that from the time that they are little they grow very rapidly, and that they have sharp serrated teeth ”

“ This latter species of commerce may be carried on in the summer months--as late as July.
In the common markets for retail trade, they are not very nice in the quality or condition of their fish; and enormous conger eels, which would be instantly rejected by the middling, or even lower classes in England, are, at Dieppe, bought with avidity and relished with glee. A few francs will procure a dish of fish large enough for a dozen people. The quays are constantly crowded, but there seems to be more of bustle than of business. ”

“ In Bermuda and the West Indies it is called ‘bone-fish’ or ‘banana-fish,’ and sold for food, although not very good. Gilbert says that the young pass through a metamorphosis analogous to that of conger eels. For a period they are elongate, band-shaped, and have very small heads and loose, transparent tissues. ”

“ As very large eels, after having migrated, never return to the river again, they must (for it cannot be supposed that they all die immediately in the sea) remain in salt water; and there is great probability that they are then confounded with the conger, which is found from a few ounces to one hundred pounds in weight.
At Munich, every child found begging is taken to a charitable establishment; the moment he enters his portrait is given to him, representing him in his rags, and he promises by oath to keep it all his life. ”

“ There is every reason to believe that eels and conger spawn but once in their lives, and die soon after they have discharged their generative products. When kept in aquaria, both male and female conger are vigorous and voracious. ”

“ It is evident, therefore, that if eels only spawn once, they do not all reach the same size when they become sexually mature. The male conger was first described in 1879 by Hermes, who obtained a ripe specimen in the Berlin Aquarium. This specimen was not quite 21/2 ft. in length, and of the numerous males which have been identified at the Plymouth Laboratory, none exceeded this length. The large numbers of conger above this size caught for the market are all immature females. Female conger of 5 or 6 ft. ”

“ Congers are great nuisances, as they bite very greedily at a white bait and keep other fish away. Most fish have a mortal dread of the conger, who devours all and each with most obliging impartiality and in wholesale fashion. The luckless herring, however, is a victim to all other fish—a wise dispensation, no doubt, of Providence to keep down its incredible numbers ”

“ The deep-sea fishing is a very formidable undertaking indeed; for this you start about 3 or 4 p.m., and do not come back till the next morning. The boats go out to a bank of sand about twenty miles out, and there fish for great skates and congers, and sometimes for cod and ling. Forty or fifty congers are a good night’s work, and it is no joke getting a conger on your line if you have never tried it before. They catch them of a hundred weight or more, and the great delight of the natives is to get a stranger with them who thinks that he can easily haul them up. ”

“ During the greater part of their existence, therefore, they have no connection with the ocean. The Congers, on the other hand, are fishes of great size, which inhabit the seas of warm countries, as well as those of Northern Europe. The type of this family is the Common Conger, Conger vulgaris (Fig. 366) , which differs from the true eels chiefly in the dorsal fins, which commence very near to the pectorals; and also in their [544] upper jaw being longer than their under one. They attain the thickness of a man's leg, and are sometimes two yards in length. ”

“ But the eels, as a family, are a saltwater group, most of their allies, like the congers and murænas, being exclusively confined to the sea, and only a very small number of aberrant types having ever taken to invading inland waters. If the life-history of the salmon, however, has given rise to as much controversy as the Mar peerage, the life-history of the eel is a complete mystery. To begin with, nobody has ever so much as distinguished between male and female eels; except microscopically, eels have never been seen in the act of spawning, nor observed anywhere with mature eggs. ”

“ Those fish which hunt under the shadow of these weeds are black, those which live in the deep water (which averages forty fathoms from Land’s End to Scilly) are pale brown on the back. The people catch a good many at the entrance of bays with the “spillers,” and I have myself caught a fine fish on some spillers which we had laid down in the sandy bay for turbot and plaice.
The young congers hang about the rocks, which are bare at low tide, and in dabbling about for “whistlers and pettifoggers” one is often surprised at pulling out from his hole a vigorous young conger. ”

“ The conger also spawns, but the fact is not equally obvious in all localities, nor is the spawn plainly visible owing to the fat of the fish; for the spawn is lanky in shape as it is with serpents. However, if it be put on the fire it shows its nature; for the fat evaporates and melts, while the eggs dance about and explode with a crack. Further, if you touch the substances and rub them with your fingers, the fat feels smooth and the egg rough. Some congers are provided with fat but not with any spawn, others are unprovided with fat but have egg-spawn as here described. ”

“ In England itself, on the other hand, we have at least one kind of fish which exemplifies the opposite or migratory solution of the dry pond problem, and that is our familiar friend the common eel. The ways of eels are indeed mysterious, for nobody has ever yet succeeded in discovering where, when, or how they manage to spawn; nobody has ever yet seen an eel's egg, or caught a female eel in the spawning condition, or even observed a really adult male or female specimen of perfect development. All the eels ever found in fresh water are immature and undeveloped creatures. ”

“ It is interesting to inquire how the young eels circumvent the Falls of the Rhine and get into Lake Constance, or how their kindred on the other side of the Atlantic overcome the obstacle of Niagara; but it is more important to lay emphasis on the variety of habitats which this fish is trying--the deep waters, the open sea, the shore, the river, the pond, and even, it may be, a little taste of solid earth. It seems highly probable that the common eel is a deep-water marine fish which has learned to colonise the freshwaters. ”