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.
SAND EELS.
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.
COMMON EELS.
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.
CONGER EELS.
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.