The Sea-Eels (Muræna Helena) are serpent-like fishes, of cylindrical form and delicate proportions, but strong, flexible, and active, swimming in waving, undulating movements in the water, just as a serpent creeps on dry land. The murænas have no pectoral fin; the dorsal and anal fin are reunited in the tail fin. A branchial opening is observable on each side of the body. The sea-eels are numerous in species. Muræna Helena (Fig. 365), which is an inhabitant of the Mediterranean, has only a single row of teeth upon each jaw. It attains the length of forty to fifty inches. It loves to bask in the hollows of rocks, approaching the coast in spring-time. It feeds on crabs and small fishes, seeking eagerly for polyps. The voracity of these fishes is such that when other food fails they begin to nibble at each other's tails.
The sea-eels are caught with rod and line, or by lines and ground-bait, but their instinct is such that they often escape. When they have swallowed a hook they 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.
Those who have studied the classics will remember the passionate love with which the Roman gourmet regarded these fishes. In the days of the Empire enormous sums were expended in keeping up the ponds which enclosed them, and the fish themselves were multiplied to such an extent that Cæsar, on the occasion of one of his triumphs, distributed six thousand among his friends. Licinius Crassus was celebrated among wealthy Romans for the splendour of his eel-ponds. They obeyed his voice, he said, and when he called them they darted towards him in order to be fed by his hands. The same Licinius Crassus, and Quintus Hortensius, another wealthy Roman patrician, wept the loss of their murænas on one occasion, when they all died in their ponds from some disease. This, however, was only a matter of taste, passion, or fashion; sometimes, however, accompanied by cruelty and gross corruption.
Fig. 365. The Sea-Eel (Muræna Helena).
It was thought among the Romans that murænas fed with human flesh were the most delicately flavoured. A rich freedman, named Pollion, who must not, however, be confounded with the orator of the name, had the cruelty to order such of his slaves as he thought deserving of death, and sometimes even those who had done nothing to excite his anger, to be thrown to them. On one occasion, when he entertained the Emperor Augustus, a poor slave who attended had the misfortune to break a precious vase; Pollion immediately ordered him to be thrown to the eels. But the indignant emperor gave the slave his freedom, and, in order to manifest his indignation with Pollion, he ordered his attendants to break every vase of value which the freedman had collected in his mansion.
In the present day sea-eels are little esteemed in a gastronomic point of view. Nevertheless they are still sought for on the coast of Italy, and the fishermen avoid with great care the bites of their sharp teeth.
Fig. 366. The Common Conger (Conger vulgaris).
The Eels (Anguilla) have pectoral fins, under which are the gill-openings on each side; the dorsal and anal fins extending up to the tail, mingling with this last, which terminates in a point at the extremity. The eels are divided into two groups: 1. The Eels (Anguilla), properly so called; and, 2. The Congers. The first inhabit most European rivers, except in the spawning season, when, according to some naturalists, they betake themselves to the sea. 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 upper jaw being longer than their under one. They attain the thickness of a man's leg, and are sometimes two yards in length. The conger-eel is frequently found in salt marshes, but its flesh is held in little esteem.