Eelvolution

It was never a case that I intentionally fished for freshwater Eels. 

Their presence in the depths of the local river was never in doubt but it was not until they broke the surface having greedily taken the bait that you actually found out they were there. 

There was always a few seconds of excitement after striking with a strong pull and tension on the nylon line and that anticipation of a good specimen fish but then ultimate disappointment with the actual catch. 

There was still a lot to do to get the silvery streak to the river bank so as not to lose all of the fishing tackle. The creature would wrap itself in a tight and slimy mass by way of self protection and it was very difficult to extricate it and return it to the murky depths. 

So was perpetuated through me the fascination with and mythical status of the Eel. 

There has always been a close association between humans and the Eel as a primary and plentiful food source either from wild stock or intentionally farmed and yet it is only in very recent years that the lifecycle and breeding habits have become the subject of study. 

That has not been without considerable interest in the species from prominent historic figures. 

Aristotle put forward his theory that Eels were generated by the very action of water on worm casts and emerged out of the earth. The Romans attributed the proliferation of Eels to their rubbing on the rocks and offspring coming from the scrapings of skin. In the Middle Ages some claimed to have seen Eels emerging from the thatch on the roof of their homes or hatching from dew drops. 

All of this mystery arose from the fact that no-one had ever actually witnessed the life cycle process. 

A study in France just before the Second World War involved the placing of 1000 Elven (baby eels) in a tank. The small 5cm infants were fed on worms and yet after 12 months only 71 remained after what the Laboratory Assistants described as scenes of relentless cannibalism. In a true survivalist way after a further 3 months only an oversized and very content female eel resided in the tank. 

The freshwater Eel, just one of many within the species thrives in river deltas and upstream where they act as predators and serve a valuable role in the ecological hierarchy. 

There continued in history studies and personal quests to shed light on the life cycle. 

One Naturalist in the 18th Century disected an Eel and observed within what he thought were offspring. However, he was mustaken and had just come across parasitic worms. The Italians continued in their studies and thought that they had found the reproductive process in an Eel fished from the Po Delta. The ovary and eggs which were triumphantly displayed to an interested scientific community were in fact from a closely related species but of the fish and not Eel genus. 

The breeding of Eels had still never actually been witnessed by humans. 

A reward was offered for presentation of a suitable specimen for further study but a fisherman filled a dead eel with roe eggs to swindle the organisers out of their money. 

The great Sigmund Freud, when a student in Vienna was entrusted with a summer job to track the life cycle but he failed to progress the knowledge of the Eel. 

In the 1850's a scientist found miniscule larvae washed up on the Italian coastline. In a bit of a brainwave he counted the vertebrae as a guide to try to identify the adult of the same species which was the freshwater Eel. This was a major step. 

It was not until well into the first quarter of the 2oth Century that an Oceanographer adopted the revolutionary approach of tracking the life cycle in reverse. In this way the trail led to the discovery of the Sargasso Sea which lies in the Bermuda Triangle as the principal origin of the Eel. 

It was only in 2020 that a single female Eel was able to be tagged and tracked out of some 400 in the experiment. From the St Lawrence in Canada the journey crossed the Atlantic to the East of Scotland, back to Maine and then along the south magnetic longitude to the Sargasso. 

To date the mating of the Eel has still not been witnessed and the mystery, fable and myth persists.