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| Q 1. | ||
| While walking along the shoreline of False Cape near the Virginia-North Carolina border recently I discovered an extremely odd fish with its nose sticking above the sand. The tide was ebbing, and as the waves alternately advanced and receded, the fish's snout was submerged and bared. Digging it up, I discovered it was buried in a vertical position. The fish's body was eel-like, round and metallic-colored, with feelers similar to catfish organs jutting from each side of the upper midsection and a round tail. While buried it seemed to gasp; once free its movements were snake-like. Was this some sort of eel? |
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| Q&A 1. | While walking along the shoreline of False Cape near the Virginia-North Carolina border recently I discovered an extremely odd fish with its nose sticking above the sand. The tide was ebbing, and as the waves alternately advanced and receded, the fish's snout was submerged and bared. Digging it up, I discovered it was buried in a vertical position. The fish's body was eel-like, round and metallic-colored, with feelers similar to catfish organs jutting from each side of the upper midsection and a round tail. While buried it seemed to gasp; once free its movements were snake-like. Was this some sort of eel? Washington, D.C. |
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| Probably the fish you discovered was a cusk eel, doubtlessly the striped cusk eel Rissola marginata. This species is not a true eel but is in a separate family, the cusk eels (Otophidiidae), which is probably related to the codfishes. The cusk eel is not rare in middle Atlantic waters. It occurs from New York to Texas and seems to be nocturnal in its habits, coming out at night to look for food. It burrows into the sand tail first, and probably spends most of the day in the vertical position which you described. Usually the cusk eel occurs over a sandy floor, where the, bottom is relatively undisturbed. Your discovery of this species in the surf seems rather unusual. |
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