There is
another fry, derived from the maenis and the mullet.
The unfertile fry is watery and keeps only a short time, as
has been stated, for at last only head and eyes are left. However, the
fishermen of late have hit upon a method of transporting it to a
distance, as when salted it keeps for a considerable time.
16
Eels are not the issue of pairing, neither are they oviparous; nor
was an eel ever found supplied with either milt or spawn, nor are they
when cut open found to have within them passages for spawn or for
eggs. In point of fact, this entire species of blooded animals
proceeds neither from pair nor from the egg.
There can be no doubt that the case is so. For in some standing
pools, after the water has been drained off and the mud has been
dredged away, the eels appear again after a fall of rain. In time of
drought they do not appear even in stagnant ponds, for the simple
reason that their existence and sustenance is derived from rain-water.
There is no doubt, then, that they proceed neither from
pairing nor from an egg. Some writers, however, are of opinion that
they generate their kind, because in some eels little worms are found,
from which they suppose that eels are derived.
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