The Mysterious European Eel

The tiny eel completes a long and arduous journey in its lifetime, returning to its birthplace in the Sargasso Sea, near Bermuda, from points as far flung as Northern Africa. This fact is courtesy of a recent story in the Philadelphia Inquirer that sheds light on the feats accomplished by this mysterious animal.

"It's one of the great riddles of biology," said researcher Kim Aarestrup of the University of Denmark. European eels, which are considered a culinary delicacy in Europe, are born in the Sargasso Sea, and drift, as larvae, to their eventual residences from North Africa to Norway. Sometime around the age of 30, each eel begins the remarkable journey back to their spawning ground, some tracking as many as 3,100 miles.

Aarestrup and his colleagues tracked some 21 eels over the first part of this journey (approximately 800 miles) and discovered that they hardly travel in a straight line. They travel predominantly near the surface by night and swim in much deeper water during the day. They also travel fairly slowly.

The problem is that researchers are running out of eels to study because the majority of them get eaten by Europeans. Overfishing has led to a significant drop in the eel population. It is likely that this animal's remarkable tracking abilities will remain unknown until they stop appearing grilled, fried or smoked in various recipes from France to Norway.

For now, we can only marvel at their feats of navigation and hope that enough of them to survive so that we can better understand this homing instinct.