Eels, How Do They Work?

September 14, 2022 12:23 PM

To save endangered eels, researchers have been working for decades to figure out where they reproduce.
posted by Etrigan (15 comments total)

I love this. I read Graham Swift's Waterland a year or so ago, and have been fascinated by eels since.
posted by Literaryhero at 3:39 PM on September 14, 2022

"Each year, the eels arrive" is a great opening line for a SF/horror story.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 4:08 PM on September 14, 2022 [4 favorites]

"HOW IS EELLY FORMED?"

I love how much we don't know about things that seem like they should be well known and familiar because, I mean, eels! They're everywhere, right? How do we NOT know all about how/where eels do it?
posted by rmd1023 at 4:33 PM on September 14, 2022 [1 favorite]

How do we NOT know all about how/where eels do it?

Because they're eelusive?

I'm so so sorry.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 4:35 PM on September 14, 2022 [17 favorites]

I propose that we save the whole planet just so that we can leave it a mystery forever.
posted by aniola at 4:57 PM on September 14, 2022 [5 favorites]

in 1876, Sigmund Freud dissected at least 400 eels in search of gonads

All at once, or was 1876 his "eel-a-day" (ish) period?

All joking aside, I've learned way more about eels and scallops today than I had any right to expect.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 4:58 PM on September 14, 2022 [2 favorites]

When you find the one spot where the eels all get hot...that's a moray.
posted by eponym at 5:25 PM on September 14, 2022 [19 favorites]

Sigmund Freud's eel dissection numbers are an outlier adn should not be counted.
posted by Windopaene at 5:48 PM on September 14, 2022 [3 favorites]

Didn’t The Mighty Boosh already put this question to rest a long time ago?
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 8:55 PM on September 14, 2022 [2 favorites]

see also P. Svensson’s lovely Book of eels.
posted by progosk at 11:05 PM on September 14, 2022 [3 favorites]

Glad and sad the post title isn't the same as an art project I'm doing (a book full of question marks) that's prospectively labelled How is Babb-eel formed?
posted by k3ninho at 2:19 AM on September 15, 2022 [2 favorites]

Okay, "Babb-eel" is much better than "eelly" and I wish I'd thought of that.
posted by rmd1023 at 5:49 AM on September 15, 2022

The sensors were designed to detach several months later and transmit the data along with the eels’ final location. Unfortunately, they detached before the eels reached any specific spawning locations, though one eel got as close as 100 to 150 kilometers from the spawning region.

Anago ahead and say that these eels are just very slippery characters.
posted by mubba at 9:36 AM on September 15, 2022 [2 favorites]

Another lovely eel book, Consider The Eel.
Many, many years ago I had the extreme pleasure of consuming Korean BBQ eel; beyond all the great side dishes-- pickles, etc!-- it was one of the most amazing textures and flavors I've ever had. Like the creamiest sausage bursting through its skin, but very fatty and delicate; like lobster without any grain or tissue.
But reading about eels is hard, harder now; knowing how many of the world's rivers are so polluted, eels overfished to extinction. I wonder if anyone else will every get to experience a dish like that. I hope we still get to have some eels somewhere, just living their mysterious lives.
posted by winesong at 3:25 PM on September 15, 2022 [3 favorites]

One group of marine biologists is said to have found the location. When they went to dive the site in order to get confirmation what they experienced was literally shocking.
posted by interogative mood at 7:23 AM on September 16, 2022