The Book of Eels: Our Enduring Fascination with the Most Mysterious Creature in the Natural World

Slippery and slimy, common descriptions often attributed to this serpentine-shaped fish, a food source especially relished in Japan. But in this captivating combination of memoir and mystery, Swedish journalist Patrik Svensson focuses our attention on this oft-repellent fish and its life stages. Together with his father, the writer has fished for this elusive creature, and entwined with these personal memories, the author takes the reader on a riveting historical account of this beguiling sea creature. Its history has been studied from the time of Aristotle, even Sigmund Freud was unsuccessfully involved in its study. Johannes Schmidt, an intrepid Danish biologist spent twenty years trawling for eels til he found their spawning grounds in the Sargasso Sea. These early forms or glass eels follow the various ocean currents to European freshwater where they continue to metamorphose, but they must, like the salmon, return to their breeding grounds to continue their life cycle. It is a life of high adventure with too many threats. Yet the mystery remains as to their mating habits, and sadly the enigma may continue as the effects of climate change, overfishing, pollution, and other unknown factors are decimating the numbers of this now vulnerable fish. An amazing adventure story.