These dogs are glatting.
What?
Yes. These dogs are glatting.
Glatting, very simply put, these dogs were hunting for conger eels.
Conger eels are fairly common on England’s west coast, and these particular dogs were being sent after the congers in Somerset.
Gamekeepers believed the congers were a threat to salmon stock, so they would organize large glatting forays on the coast.
They used spaniels and retrievers for this purpose.
The last big glatting foray happened in 1955.
These dogs appear to be Labrador crosses.
When the dogs would indicate the presence of a conger eel, the men would come with long poles made from ash to pry away the stones. Congers are known to be nasty biters, so it was important that they not use their bare hands for that purpose. Normally, the eel, now exposed, would take off for the water. And then it would be a mad dash to get the conger into a sack.
It was kind of like aquatic “terriering.”
(All photos courtesy of Nara Uusihanni).
[…] The Answer: Conger eels! […]
So did they eat them afterwards?
Yes. Eel is a common food.
Eel is a delicious food, although most Americans won’t touch it. We use most of our eel harvest as crab bait or we ship them to Europe. My favorite form of sushi, Unagi Sushi, is made with cooked eel. Unfortunately most catadromous eel populations are crashing so I have to forego this delicacy. I’m not sure how healthy the saltwater eel populations (anago to the Japanese) are.
I’ve enjoyed unagi too, but the taste and texture can differ depending on which restaurant I purchase it from. Do you know how many kinds of eel are used for sushi?
If you’re talking about unagi then they’re all members of the genus Anguilla w/ 19 known species, the most common commercial species being: the American eel (Anguilla rostrata), European eel (Anguilla anguilla), Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica), and Short-finned eel (Anguilla australis). Which one will be used depends pretty much on where you are at the time.
Anago is always one of several species of conger eel.
Eels have nearly gone from our UK rivers. We are gradually destroying much of Nature as you know.