Eels
Eels are fascinating freshwater fish and the more you learn about them, the more you will want to know! They are born in the Sargasso Sea within the Atlantic Ocean and it takes them around three years to reach our shores via the Gulf Stream. They arrive as tiny transparent elvers called glass eels. Here they mature, becoming a darker green/brown in colour with a silvery belly. They inhabit most waterbodies and may even crawl over flooded land to get to water.
They have a snake-like appearance being smooth, long and narrow and lack the obvious scales and gills of other fish. They prefer dark and heavily coloured waters, often with plenty of silt and mud and can grow to over a metre in length. They are predators, feeding on dead animals, fish eggs, invertebrates and other fish. When they reach maturity (between 8-18 years) they head back across the Atlantic to the Sargasso Sea to spawn.
Did you know?
Eels can live to be 100 years old.
Eels have suffered dramatic declines due to changes in ocean currents and man-made barriers such as dams, weirs and culverts which hamper their movement within the freshwater environment. They are categorised as being Critically Endangered on the global IUCN Red list.
