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Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 111, 8 February 1928, Page 13

Considerable diversity of opinion exists respecting the depredations of eels upon trout. There is no that eels consume considerable numbers of young trout (states the “Taranaki News”). Several reports have been received of trout weighing up to a pound and a half being found tn eels that have been captured. Quite recently a farmer found a dead eel in his river with a halfswallowed trout in its mouth. Anglers also take trout which bear scars on the underside of the body that correspond with the shape of an eel’s mouth and teeth. A few days ago a Taranaki angler caught a two pound trout that had apparently been savagely attacked by an eel. Deep rips in the flesh just above the trout’s tail showed that the fish had escaped after a hard struggle. Another angler recently saw an actual tussle between a trout and an eel. The latter was about five pounds in weight and the trout a three-pounder. The eel had seized its prey from underneath and was shaking it like a terrier shakes a rat. The trout fought gamely for lil> cration, but the eel continued to worry and eventually pushed the trout out on to the bank, where it soon succumbed. I'be victor retained its hold and would probably have attempted to devour the trout, although the latter was much too large to bo swallowed whole, had not the watching angler been able to creep up close to the contestants and with his gaff secured (he cel, which he quickly dispatched. ,