201. The COMMON EEL (Muræna anguilla, Fig. 55) is distinguishable by its lower jaw being somewhat longer than the upper, and the body being of an uniform colour.
It is an inhabitant of rivers and ponds in almost every country of Europe; and sometimes grows to the weight of fifteen or twenty pounds.
The flesh of the eel affords a very rich and delicious food; and, were it not for groundless prejudices, arising from its serpent-like shape, this fish would be in much greater request for the table than it now is.
So abundant are eels, in many of the rivers adjacent to the sea, that, in the first autumnal floods several tons' weight have sometimes been caught in a day; and, in the river Ban, near Coleraine, in Ireland, there is an eel-fishery of such extent as to be let for 1000l. per annum. The modes of taking eels are various; but these are chiefly by traps or engines of different kinds, so contrived as to admit of their entering, but to prevent their return.
In the river Nyne, Northamptonshire, a small kind of eels are caught, with small head and narrow mouths, which have the name bed-eels. What are called, in the south of England, grigs, gluts, or snigs, are a variety of the common eel with larger head, blunter nose, and thicker skin. Silver eels owe probably their distinction of colour to the clear and gravelly streams in which they feed.
Eels are considered in highest perfection for the table from the commencement of spring till about the end of July; yet they continue good till the end of September. The modes of cooking them are numerous and well known. In some parts of the Continent the skins are made into a kind of ropes, which have great strength and durability. The inhabitants of several of the districts of Tartary use them, in place of glass, for windows; and, in the Orkney Islands, they are worn as a remedy for the cramp. Bits of eel-skin are not unfrequently put into coffee to clarify it. In many parts of the North of Europe the scales, which are extremely minute, are mixed with cement to give a silvery lustre to the houses.
202. The CONGER, or SEA EEL (Muræna conger), is chiefly distinguished from the common eel by the lower jaw being shorter than the upper, and the lateral or side line being white.
It is found in all the European seas; and, when at its full growth, measures from six to twelve feet in length, and from twelve to twenty inches in circumference.
So numerous are congers on some of the British shores, that, from Mount's Bay, in Cornwall, there have, in some years, been more than ten tons' weight of dried congers exported to different parts of Spain and Portugal. These fish are also peculiarly abundant in the neighbourhood of the Orkneys and Hebrides. They are chiefly caught with strong lines, each about 500 feet in length, and having sixty hooks placed about eight feet asunder. The lines are sunk in the sea, and sometimes so many of them are fastened together that they extend nearly a mile in length.
The flesh of the conger is white, but coarse and greasy; and, though frequently eaten, is to some persons extremely disgusting. In the salting and drying of these fish they shrink to less than one-fourth part of their original weight, and the process is attended by the most nauseous stench. By the Spaniards and Portuguese dried congers are ground or beaten into powder, to thicken and give a relish to soups.