MIGRATION OF "FISHES
=
57
]ohs. Schmidt has at length traced the Eel to its :spaw1‘u'ng
.
—
places (1921), in an indirect yet: quite coiwinci‘ng
The post—larval Eels- (Leptocephali) Were found in— ever
increasing quantities the further "he proœeded WeSt‘wards,
but they became gradually smaller.Ï Successivé lines 0}:
zones could thus be marked off, acc0rding to theSize, until
at length he found the smallest'larva with the
attached and even the eggs out over the deepes‘t’ parts-of
theAtlantic, near the West Indies and nearer the American '
than the European coasts. , These Were taken inthe middle
and upper layers, and there is
doubt Wlÿi6ther
,
the adults actually Spawn at the bottom. The
the
“
spawning grounds
”
were about 3000 fathoms.
Two more of Schmidt’s disCoveries are of interest. At
the same placeWhere he found the larvae of the European
Eel he also took those-of theAmerican Eel.
The spawning
grounds of two forms, living thousands of miles apart,
practically the same, and
young of both species were
occasionally taken in the same haul of the net.
__
.
‘
,
The sec0nd discovery is even more extraordinary. The
'
two streams of poSt—larvæ spreadout and move northwards -
toWards the Bermudas ; there they separate, one going east
to
the other west to America.
The latter “form
spends only 0neyear in “the Atlantic‘ànd is then ready to
—
enter
fresh water
the European form_takes three years
to
cross
the Atlantic (on Chart," ;Os—rst' year,
_.
second year, II—third year) before it isready to change
'
its constitution and enter
HOW these tiny shes
can settle which directi0n=to take, even allowing
a,
‘
difference Lin constitution, is
profound mystery.ï
In
illustration of the immense quantities of these
,
';
.
cephali it may
-' that _Îohs}_‘Sch-dt, topk=æ
_
many -as eight . hundred : specimens
—-in —
mid- .
Atlantic.
=
ï
ÏŸ
.
AW‘e
whether any eXplïlaoni‘f
Ï
something more, that is, than. a simple
; :
—_—;Can be--given—Ofèth€ wonderful
_
“to the
'