EELS AND THEIR HABITS.
NOCTURNAL MIGRATIONS.
Although Captain Ilayes, MX’., of tin* Marine Department, who was in Foxton last week carrying out a biological investigation in eonnee'iton with the whitebait, was not very lunch concerned with the eel and its habits, on this particular cceasion, he was, nevertheless, able In make some very interesting observations about this fish as, accompanied by our representative he kept watch over the Whakapuna Drain for signs of inanga one night last week.
As the eels surged past the circle of light thrown on the water by th« w a tellers' lamps, many interesting tacts concerning eels were made known to his companions by Captain Ilayes. It was an easy matter to pick out the sex of the fish, hi said. The males never grew lo ilu* size attained by the females and practically all the monsters in this species were females. It is tiuile a common thing at this time a. (In* year to find eels stranded on tlu* sand at the outlet to creeks and drains on the local ocean beach end when an explanation for this was asked of the Captain he said that many of the eels had died as a result of mini blocking their gills during tlu* course of their journey down the waterways to the sea. Others, again, were stranded possibly through having attempted to wriggle across the intervening -tret eh of sand after the tide had receded. The Maoris were generally in attendance at the mouths of creeks end drains when the eel run commenced and experienced very Kttle difficulty in gathering tip large numbers of eels at this time of the tear.
Question concerning the possibility of eels travelling overland, Captain Hayes said that eels that found they were blocked from the sea by a natural outlet were known, • it a wet night or when there was *i heavy dew, to leave their lagdons and travel overland until they found a suitable creek or dram which would give them access to the sea. When research work was being carried out in connection with • els in England recently, he said, it bad been found that a man had the greatest difficulty in keeping up with an eel during its overland excursion. They were able to travel at a very smart pace. 'Captain Hayes also intimated that eels had scales, but these were deeply embedded in the skin and not easily discernible to the untrained eve.
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Manawatu Herald, Volume LI, Issue 4419, 25 February 1930, Page 2
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408EELS AND THEIR HABITS. Manawatu Herald, Volume LI, Issue 4419, 25 February 1930, Page 2
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