Where European eels begin and end their lives has long been a mystery, but bold investigations have finally revealed the final details of their incredible migrations.
life
January 16, 2023
Mathieu Foulquie/Biosphoto/Minden Pictures
Right now, millions of lithe, silvery fish are swimming resolutely across the Atlantic Ocean. They are snake-like, he is over a meter long and has huge bulbous eyes. They left their European homeland in late autumn and have been sailing west ever since, often swimming against once-reversing currents. They move alone at a leisurely pace and never rest. At night they are near the surface. During the day in the deep sea. Their journey will take over a year. Many do not succeed. But the reward is sex and death in the Sargasso Sea.
This is the ultimate goal and destiny of the European eel (Anguilla Anguilla), a remarkable and enigmatic species that has fed the imagination and bellies of man for thousands of years. Their life cycle is fascinating and their final journey, the details of which have only recently been discovered, is astonishing. “This is a species that is notoriously difficult to understand,” says Jack Wootton, an eel expert at the Forth His Rivers His Trust in Edinburgh, England. What we do know for sure is that European eels are endangered and need help to recover.
The species begins its life far from Europe in the Sargasso Sea, a region of the western Atlantic defined by four currents that form the boundary. Adult eels spawn between December and May, and the larvae, known as leptocephalis, begin their long journey to Europe and North Africa. They are mainly carried by prevailing currents that drag…
