Hey, would you rather have this fish swimming beside you in the creek?.....or on your plate as smoked eel?
Before we put this monster in the smokehouse let's check out this extraordinary animal that still has the marine scientists puzzled.
The anguilla australis or short-finned eel begins life in an egg laid deep (200 metres) in the Coral Sea near New Caledonia. The larva drifts in the ocean current down the east coast of Australia until reaching fresh water flowing out of a river in say Victoria, triggering development into a transparent 'glass eel' which then navigates its way up the river and its tributaries. On a rainy or dewy night it can then slither cross-country as an 'elver' to take up residence in a farm dam, lake, or swamp, absorbing oxygen from the moisture through its protective slimy skin. Should temperatures fall below 10 degrees C it will hibernate, and if necessary will bury itself in mud or sand. After reaching maturity at between 10 and 20 years it will stop feeding as its digestive system shuts down and dissolves. No matter what the conditions: hot or cold, salty or fresh, wet or dry, deep ocean or grass, mud, sand - it doesn’t faze this clever, tenacious survivor.
What now? Isn’t it finally time to retire and go on that Pacific Ocean cruise?
Not likely - how about a 4000 kilometre swim on an empty stomach, against the current, with no Olympic gold medal at the end? The elderly eel now makes its way down the river and swims 3-4000 kms back to the SAME spawning ground where its life began, arriving as not much more than a skeleton ready to reproduce before dying.
This awesome survivor has heroically sacrificed itself for the sake of new life – but who wrote the eel’s miraculous program?
Acknowledgements: Dept. Primary Industry, Victoria wikipedia.com
Photo credit: Roy Britten / thecourier.com.au
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