Eekhoud

EEKHOUD, ek'howt, Georges, Belgian novelist and poet : b. Antwerp, 27 May 1854. He first published two volumes of poetry, (1877); then became a newspaper literary critic in Brussels and wrote several short stories. His first noteworthy novel, 'Les milices de Saint-Francois) (1886), is a masterly por trayal of Flemish peasant life, especially its naive mystic religiousness. His masterpiece, 'La nouvelle Carthage) (1888), paints Antwerp life in its naked actuality. Still other works of his are 'Les fusilles de (1890), a story of the peasants' uprising against the French in 1798, and 'La faneuse d'amour> (1900), and 'L'Autre vue) (1905). In poetry he has de veloped from romanticism to pronounced realism.

EEL, the general name given to a variety of teleostomous fishes of diverse structure and resembling one another chiefly in their elongated form, soft rayed fins and the tendency for the paired fins to become reduced in size. Although their seclusive habits render the eel-like fishes liable to be overlooked, and it is evident that many remain undiscovered, the number and diversity of those already known are very con siderable. Ichthyologists have arranged them in numerous families and several orders, which Prof. E. D. Cope regarded as forming a series degenerate in respect to the gradual loss of the paired fins and certain ossifications of the skull, and in the simplification of the gill arches. Ac cording to the classification of Jordan and Evermann, most of the eels fall within the order Apodes, the others chiefly within the Plecto spondyli Symbranchia and Carenchelyi. The common eel or fresh-water eel (Anguilla chryspa) belongs to the first order and the fam ily Anguillidz. It is doubtfully distinct from the European fresh-water eel (Anguilla an guilla). Both species are characterized — in addition to the serpent-like elongated body, the absence of ventral fins and the continuity of the dorsal and anal fins round the extremity of the tail — by the wide interval between the dorsal fin and the head, the projecting lower jaw, well developed pectoral fins, well-ossified jaws and gill covers and nearly perfect gill arches. Con trary to the common belief, eels are not scaleless but numerous small scales are embedded in the skin. The life history of the eel is very remarkable and in some respects unique. Dur ing the spring and early summer multitudes of young eels several inches long migrate up the rivers from the sea and distribute themselves throughout every accessible body of water, whatever its size or character, frequently travel ing overland to reach these. Here they remain

concealed in the mud or beneath stones and feed on all kinds of animal matter, living and dead, in the pursuit of which they are relentless. Many eels appear never to leave the fresh waters in which they have developed, but most of them after several years return to the sea and enter comparatively deep waters, where sexual maturity and spawning takes place. From the egg a peculiar, compressed, transpar ent, pelagic larva (Leptocephalus brevirostris) is produced, which in due time generally meta morphoses into the young eel which in turn leaves the sea. Some individuals, however, ap pear to remain permanently in salt as others do in fresh water.

Both in America and in Europe eels are an important and very excellent food fish, and great quantities are caught in a variety of ways. In the United States use is made of hand and set lines, eel-spears, eel-pots and weirs. The last is the most efficacious method, but owing to its serious destructiveness of shad and other fishes its use is frequently prohibited by law. A V-shaped fence or net is arranged across the stream with a basket placed in a small opening at the apex, into which the eels are guided by the leads and from which they are unable to extricate themselves. In England river eels are caught in great numbers by means of eelbucks, or eel-pots, traps consisting of a kind of basket with a funnel-shaped entilance composed of wil low rods converging toward a point, so that the eels can easily force their way in but cannot return. A stocking or tube of coarse cloth hanging from an aperture of a box down into the interior is also used. A kind of trident, called an eel-spear, is used also for taking them. A fisherman wades to the shallows, and, strik ing his spear in the mud in every direction around him, the eels reposing on the bottom are caught behind the prongs. Except a few other species of the same genus as the common eel, all eels are strictly marine and are especially numerous in tropical seas where, in the inter stices of coral reefs, as also in the deep sea, some very remarkable kinds occur. For an ac count of the species consult Jordan and Davis, 'Report United States Fish Commission for 1888' ; Jordan and Evermann, 'Bulletin United States National Museum, No. 47, Part I,> and Goode and Bean, 'Oceanic Icthyology.> See also articles CONGER EEL; ELECTRIC EEL; SNIPE EEL; MORAYS; PELICAN FISH; SNAKE EEL, etc.