86
THE SEAS
'
-
—
they have
captured and marked.
Their recapture
on their way to the North Sea shows that they had travelledat the rate of about nine miles a day for some three months,
.
but they were only a very short way on their total journey,
'
for the next we know of them they must have arrived in
,
the deep central part of the North Atlantic, known as the
Sargasso Sea (a distance of some two to three thousand
miles), although none of the spawning eels have themselves
-
,
been seen there.
There is, however, irrefutable evidence
that they must have been to those regions, because at the
_
end of winter and during spring the baby eels are there.
'
.
The young eels are very unlike their parents; in fact so
unlike that the rst time one was seen it was considered to be
a new species of sh and given the name of “ Leptocephalus.”
They vary from a quarter of an inch to three inches in
.
«
length according, to their age.
They are attened sideways
so as to resemble a leaf, and are quite transparent (Plate 3 5).These baby eels n0w start on the- return journey and we can
in-this case get some idea of the rate they travel, 'for' Prof.
Schmidt has,- by measuring very large numbers, shown that
,
they take three yearsto reach the European shores once
more.
the long journey across the Atlantic they
Ï
grow, and
is by their growth that their birthplace has
been located; catches made between our shores and the
.
_
central Atlantic exhibit these eel larvæ in ever decreasmg
size (Fig. 13). . Near the coasts they are about three
'
'
'
inches long, but down inthe locality of their birth they are
only a quarter of an inch in length, and indeed, in this -
…
‘
region, eggs have been taken that are without a doubt_ —
‘
those of the parent eels themselves. The eggs are about the
size of a pea, quite transparent,
and drift in the water layers
.
,
[
at depths of about.a hundred fathoms, just like many of the
—
other shes’ eggs mentioned earlier in this chapter. -
'
'
--When the eel larvæ have'reached their destination ou the
THE SEAS
'
-
—
they have
captured and marked.
Their recapture
on their way to the North Sea shows that they had travelledat the rate of about nine miles a day for some three months,
.
but they were only a very short way on their total journey,
'
for the next we know of them they must have arrived in
,
the deep central part of the North Atlantic, known as the
Sargasso Sea (a distance of some two to three thousand
miles), although none of the spawning eels have themselves
-
,
been seen there.
There is, however, irrefutable evidence
that they must have been to those regions, because at the
_
end of winter and during spring the baby eels are there.
'
.
The young eels are very unlike their parents; in fact so
unlike that the rst time one was seen it was considered to be
a new species of sh and given the name of “ Leptocephalus.”
They vary from a quarter of an inch to three inches in
.
«
length according, to their age.
They are attened sideways
so as to resemble a leaf, and are quite transparent (Plate 3 5).These baby eels n0w start on the- return journey and we can
in-this case get some idea of the rate they travel, 'for' Prof.
Schmidt has,- by measuring very large numbers, shown that
,
they take three yearsto reach the European shores once
more.
the long journey across the Atlantic they
Ï
grow, and
is by their growth that their birthplace has
been located; catches made between our shores and the
.
_
central Atlantic exhibit these eel larvæ in ever decreasmg
size (Fig. 13). . Near the coasts they are about three
'
'
'
inches long, but down inthe locality of their birth they are
only a quarter of an inch in length, and indeed, in this -
…
‘
region, eggs have been taken that are without a doubt_ —
‘
those of the parent eels themselves. The eggs are about the
size of a pea, quite transparent,
and drift in the water layers
.
,
[
at depths of about.a hundred fathoms, just like many of the
—
other shes’ eggs mentioned earlier in this chapter. -
'
'
--When the eel larvæ have'reached their destination ou the