CARTILAGINOUS FISHES.
THE LAMPREYS AND THE EELS.
It is not usual to class these two families together, but they look so much alike until studied closely, all the different varieties having the appearance of serpents, with fins and curious forms of tails and heads, that it seems best to study them together and find the points of difference. The Lamprey is of a lighter color than the Eel, and is not so graceful, but of a rather clumsy form. But it differs most in its mouth, which is round, and placed below the end of the nose. It resembles the mouth of a Leech more than that of an Eel.
The Lamprey has a hole on top of its head through which it spouts water, somewhat like a Whale, and the fins are formed by a lengthening out of the skin instead of having a set of bones or spines for that purpose. The mouth of the Lamprey is not only formed like that of the Leech, but it has the same property of sticking close to and sucking any body that is applied to it. It has a wonderfulpower of holding on to stones by sucking with its mouth, so that it is almost impossible to draw it away. We are told of one that weighed only three pounds, and yet it stuck so firmly to a stone weighing twelve pounds, that it remained suspended by its mouth, and it was almost impossible to make it loosen its hold.
This wonderful strength of suction is supposed to arise from the power of the Lamprey to exhaust the air within its body by the hole over the nose, while the mouth is closely fixed to the object, and allows no air to enter.
This adhesive or sticking quality in the Lamprey is somewhat increased by the slimy substance which is smeared all over its body. This substance serves to keep it warm in the cold water, and it also keeps its skin soft and pliant.
Every year, usually about the beginning of the spring, the Lampreys leave the sea, where they usually make their home, and make holes or nests in the gravelly bottoms of rivers. Here the eggs are laid, and the mother Lamprey watches near until the eggs hatch. Then she is often seen with her whole family playing about her until they have become well grown, when she takes the whole family back in triumph to the ocean.
There are several different species belonging to the Lamprey family. The kind known as the Lesser Lamprey inhabits Europe, Japan and the lakes of South America. It measures from twelve to fifteen inches long. Then there is a still smaller member of the family called the Lampern, which lives in European rivers, and is about six or seven inches long. It hides itself under stones or in the mud, but does not have the same power of suction as some of the larger ones.
The Sea Lamprey belongs to the Mediterranean. When full grown it is about three feet long, and its light yellow body is marbled with brown. The Lampreys feed on worms, molluscs and small Fishes. The larger ones often seize Fishes of great size, and suck them like a Leech.
All the different kinds of Lampreys are considered very fine and delicate food, and horrible stories are told of how kings and emperors used to raise the best kinds of Lampreys in ponds and feed them by throwing into the ponds live slaves who had displeased them; as they considered the Lamprey had a finer flavor when fed on human flesh. But only one man, a senator of Rome, was really known to do such a dreadful thing, and we are told that when Augustus, the emperor, heard it he ordered all these ponds to be filled up; but not until after many poor slaves had met this awful death, simply because they did not happen to please their wicked master.
The Eels belong to the family of bony Fishes, although the Lampreys which they resemble in general appearance, belong to the family of Fishes whose framework is made up of cartilage, or gristle. The Eels form a very large family if we would include the different kinds of bony Fishes that have the same snake-like form of the common Eel. We find these smaller families classed under the name of Apoda; this word means without feet when applied to animals, but when used to describe Fishes, means without the ventral fins which serve in the place of feet.
As the different kinds of Eels found under this family of Apoda are described by their Greek or Latin names, it will be well for us to understand the meaning of each of the four divisions. We would hardly recognize the plain Sand Eel, when we find him classed with “Osseous Fishes” under the name of “Ammodytes,” yet this is where the Naturalists place him, because this word in Latin means a sand-burrower, a kind of serpent, and is also derived from two Greek words meaning sand, and diver. The Electrical Eel is classed under fresh water Fishes under the name of Gymnotus, which comes from two Greek words meaning naked and back, showing that the back of the Electrical Eel is without fins. The Sea Eel is classed under the name of Muraenas, while Anguilla, which means snaky, serpent-like, is used to describe the plain Eels with smooth bodies and very few of the characteristics which distinguish the other Eels.
We will simply give all these different kinds of Eels their plain common name, but when we read of wonderful fresh water Fishes called Gymnotus Electricus, who have strange electrical powers, we will know the word is used to describe the Electrical Eel.
Very strange stories are told of these Eels, and its power to give an Electric shock to any person or animal who touches it. Alexander von Humboldt is said to have given the first precise account of this very curious Eel. This celebrated Naturalist tells of a voyage up the Orinoco for the purpose of studying the Electrical Eel, great numbers of which are found in the neighborhood of this river. Some Indians conducted the party to the Cano de Bera, a muddy pond surrounded by rich vegetation, Indian figs and beautiful flowers.
The party of Naturalists were surprised when they learned that it would be necessary to use about thirty half-wild Horses to help them fish for the Electrical Eel, and that the severe shocks of electricity given by the Eels must be expended upon the Horses before it would be safe to touch the Eels.
While our hosts were explaining to us this strange mode of fishing, the troop horses and mules had arrived, and the Indians had made a sort of battue, pressing the horses on all sides, and forcing them into the marsh. The Indians, armed with long canes and harpoons, placed themselves round the basin, some of them mounting the trees, whose branches hung over the water, and by their cries, and still more by their canes, prevented the horses from landing again.
The Eels, stunned by the noise, defended themselves by repeated discharges of their batteries. For a long time it seemed as if they would be victorious over the Horses. Some of the Mules especially, being almost stifled by the frequency and force of the shock, disappeared under the water, and some of the Horses, in spite of the watchfulness of the Indians, regained the bank, where, overcome by the shocks they had undergone, they stretched themselves at their whole length.
The picture presented was now indescribable. Groups of Indians surrounded the basin; the Horses with bristling mane, terror and grief in their eyes, trying to escape from the storm which had surprised them; the Eels, yellow and livid, looking like great aquatic Serpentsswimming on the surface of the water, and chasing their enemies, were objects at once appalling and picturesque. In less than five minutes two Horses were drowned.
When the struggle had lasted a quarter of an hour, the Mules and Horses appeared less frightened, the manes became more natural, the eyes expressed less terror, the Eels shunned, in place of attacking them; at the same time approaching the bank, when they were easily taken by throwing little harpoons at them attached to long cords; the harpoon, sometimes hooking two at a time, being landed by means of the long cord. They were drawn ashore without being able to communicate any shock.
Having landed the Eels, they were transported to little pools dug in the soil, and filled with fresh water; but such is the terror they inspire, that none of the people of the country would release them from the harpoon—a task which the travelers had to perform themselves, and receive the first shock, which was not slight—the most energetic surpassing in force that communicated by a Leyden jar, completely charged.
The Electrical Eel surpasses in size and strength all the other Electric Fishes. Humboldt saw them five feet three inches long. They vary in color according to age, and the nature of the muddy water in which they live. Beneath, the head is of a fine yellow color mixed with red;the mouth is large, and furnished with small teeth arranged in many rows.
The Electrical Eel gives the most frightful shocks without the least muscular movement in the fins, in the head, or any other part of the body. The shock, indeed, depends upon the will of the animal, and in this respect differs from a Leyden jar, which is discharged by communicating with two opposite poles. It happens sometimes that an Electrical Eel, seriously wounded, only gives a very weak shock, but if, thinking it exhausted, it is touched fearlessly, its discharge is terrible.
SEA EEL.
SEA EEL.
SEA EEL.
The Sea Eels are slender, serpent-like Fishes, that are very strong and active, and they swim with the same waving movements in the water, as the serpents use in creeping on dry land. These Eels feed on small Fishes, Crabs, etc., and are such hungry fellows that when other food fails they begin to nibble at each other’s tails.
It is difficult to catch a Sea Eel; they are usually caught with rod and line, or with line and ground bait, but they are quick in making their escape. When they have swallowed a hook they will often cut the line with their teeth, or they turn upon it, and try, by winding it round some object, to strain or break it. When caught in a net they quickly choose some mesh through which their body can glide.
Like the Lampreys, these Sea Eels make excellent food, and are often raised in ponds and carefully fed to give their flesh a delicate flavor.
The Sand Eel is an easily frightened little fellow who buries himself in the sand. He is quite handsome, being silvery-blue—brighter on the lower parts than on the upper, with the radiating fins first white and then blue in color.
This Eel is seldom seen swimming about. It hollows out a burrow for itself in the sand to the depth of fifteen or twenty inches, where it hunts out worms on which it feeds, while it shelters itself from the jaws of the hungry Fishes which eagerly hunt for its delicate flesh.
The plain, snake-like Eel classed under the name of Anguilla is found in European rivers, and in various parts of North America. Although it is sometimes eaten it is not considered especially good for food; it does not often measure much over two feet in length, and is covered with a soft, slimy skin, and sometimes with tiny scales almost too small to be seen.
The Conger Eel of the United States which belongs to this family is often five feet or more in length, while the Conger Eel of Europe is very large, as thick as a man’s leg, and sometimes ten feet long.