146
ANTON F. BRUlJN
(1959~) p. 1282) continues : ‘( A surprising variety of fishes, including
other Apodes, have been taken in deep-sea trawls by scientific expeditions ; I have before me 29 Synaphobranchus from a single haul of an
Agassiz trawl at 1300 metres.” And further: ( ( I did not write of
‘ commercial fishing gear ’ in the Strait of Gibraltar but of an ( intensive
study ’ ; still more explicitly, scientific investigations by Danish,
French, and Monagasque expeditions.”
With an intimate experience of the gear used by the Danish expeditions and having been on board when they were used in the Strait of
Gibraltar on four occasions I can state that no one on board ever
dreamt about catching migrating eels in the utramin-nets intended for
catching eel larvae, and that no other gear was used. Nor does any
French or Monrtgasquc publicatioii indicate that suitable gear was ever
used.
111 fact a trawl which could catch the migrating eel in the Danish
waters has still to be invented. The fishing of the bottom-dwelling
yellow eel is a characteristic feature of the Danish eel fishery, but all
experiments aimed at catching the pelagic migrating eel with a kind of
trawl have been failures ; such eels are taken in all sorts of traps.
Ehrenbaum (1930, p. 171) has commented on this problem (translated from German) : ‘( Outside the Skaw no marked eels have been
recaptured, as in general the capture of eels in the open North Sea, not
to speak of the ocean, is extremely rare.
( ( Probably the migrating eel swims at moderate or changing levels
above the bottom. In recent years, when German trawlers have used a
trawl, which only lightly touches the bottom, for catching the herring,
eels are occasiorially caught; t h u e.g. on 18 Novcmbcr 1!)24, N. of the
Skaw i f ] 90 arid 180 m of dcptti, arid or1 ‘LO IMwrrr tm I W 4 nrh far from
thc: Swcdish cowit off Viiigu.”
lJRirig the 8amC kind of geru as u ~ e d for catchinK t h c ycllow celn in
Danish watws, but in hthyrtl and abyueal dopthH it i H caHy to catch the
i)ottom-dwc.lling Syiiuz)fiobrtrnchuR, r t ~ 1 havo cxperiencd R ~ R O in the
Indian aiitl Pacific Occak. So ‘J’ucker’s reference to the capture of
twenty-nine Synaphobranchus is no surprise, but not to the point,
because so far thcrc is no evidence that a trawl, which was not towed
along the bottom, ever brought up a single Symphobranchus.
If the silver eel migrates at depths of 180 m, as the German observation may indicate, it may even be carried out of the Mediterranean by
the out-flowing current in the Strait of Gibraltar (Schott, 1928, p. 158,
Fig. 10).
ANTON F. BRUlJN
(1959~) p. 1282) continues : ‘( A surprising variety of fishes, including
other Apodes, have been taken in deep-sea trawls by scientific expeditions ; I have before me 29 Synaphobranchus from a single haul of an
Agassiz trawl at 1300 metres.” And further: ( ( I did not write of
‘ commercial fishing gear ’ in the Strait of Gibraltar but of an ( intensive
study ’ ; still more explicitly, scientific investigations by Danish,
French, and Monagasque expeditions.”
With an intimate experience of the gear used by the Danish expeditions and having been on board when they were used in the Strait of
Gibraltar on four occasions I can state that no one on board ever
dreamt about catching migrating eels in the utramin-nets intended for
catching eel larvae, and that no other gear was used. Nor does any
French or Monrtgasquc publicatioii indicate that suitable gear was ever
used.
111 fact a trawl which could catch the migrating eel in the Danish
waters has still to be invented. The fishing of the bottom-dwelling
yellow eel is a characteristic feature of the Danish eel fishery, but all
experiments aimed at catching the pelagic migrating eel with a kind of
trawl have been failures ; such eels are taken in all sorts of traps.
Ehrenbaum (1930, p. 171) has commented on this problem (translated from German) : ‘( Outside the Skaw no marked eels have been
recaptured, as in general the capture of eels in the open North Sea, not
to speak of the ocean, is extremely rare.
( ( Probably the migrating eel swims at moderate or changing levels
above the bottom. In recent years, when German trawlers have used a
trawl, which only lightly touches the bottom, for catching the herring,
eels are occasiorially caught; t h u e.g. on 18 Novcmbcr 1!)24, N. of the
Skaw i f ] 90 arid 180 m of dcptti, arid or1 ‘LO IMwrrr tm I W 4 nrh far from
thc: Swcdish cowit off Viiigu.”
lJRirig the 8amC kind of geru as u ~ e d for catchinK t h c ycllow celn in
Danish watws, but in hthyrtl and abyueal dopthH it i H caHy to catch the
i)ottom-dwc.lling Syiiuz)fiobrtrnchuR, r t ~ 1 havo cxperiencd R ~ R O in the
Indian aiitl Pacific Occak. So ‘J’ucker’s reference to the capture of
twenty-nine Synaphobranchus is no surprise, but not to the point,
because so far thcrc is no evidence that a trawl, which was not towed
along the bottom, ever brought up a single Symphobranchus.
If the silver eel migrates at depths of 180 m, as the German observation may indicate, it may even be carried out of the Mediterranean by
the out-flowing current in the Strait of Gibraltar (Schott, 1928, p. 158,
Fig. 10).