NATURALIST'S 



NOTEBOOK 



I 



By Athena Osborne 



is not a snake. It is not a 

 blood-sucking parasite. It is not 

 poisonous, and it does not shock 

 you with electric current. It is the 

 American eel (Anguilla rostrata), an 

 intriguing creature with a bit of an 

 identity crisis. 



Ancient Romans considered the eel 

 a delicacy, early American settlers 

 caught and farmed the eel, and today 

 Europeans find its mild, meaty flavor 

 delectable. But its virtues aren't merely 

 culinary. 



"Aside from their commercial 

 importance, they are important as 

 predators and scavengers in most 

 aquatic systems," says Gene Helfman, 

 associate professor at the University of 

 Georgia Institute of Ecology. 



So why are modern Americans so 

 slow to acknowledge the worth and 

 wonder of this delightful creature? 



Martie Bouw, eel exporter and 

 owner of Holland Seafood in Arapahoe, 

 says his major market is still overseas, 

 despite availability of eels in U.S. 

 waters. Eel phobia sprouts from fear and 

 misinformation, he says. 



Indeed, the American eel often has 

 been confused with more intimidating 

 creatures: the snake, the lamprey eel, the 



Tliough tliese eels are at tiome in the water, 

 they can also make brief detours over land when their routes are blocked. 



electric eel, the moray eel and the 

 conger eel. 



This harmless fish does resemble 

 the snake. Sleek, long and slender, 

 it undulates through the water in a 

 serpentine manner, trailing eddying Ss 

 with its pointed tail. However, the 

 resemblance ends there. The American 

 eel is not a member of the snake class, 

 Reptilia. 



The eel is even less like the 

 lamprey eel, a jawless, blood-sucking 

 parasite of the Great Lakes. The 

 American eel has a jaw. Like other 

 members of the finned family, it preys 

 on smaller creatures such as aquatic 

 insects, worms, shellfish and an 

 occasional clam or crab. 



It is much smaller than the 

 shocking electric eel of the Orinoco and 



Amazon basins, which is quite capable 

 of electrocuting man or beast. And the 

 moray and conger eels possess far larger 

 and sharper teeth for stronger bites. The 

 bite of the American eel is weak and 

 nonpoisonous, lacking both the strength 

 of jaw and length of tooth that would 

 make it mightier. 



"A very unusual creature," the 

 American eel has dynamic characteris- 

 tics unknown to most Americans, Bouw 

 says. For example, the creature sports a 

 fin, although a peculiar one. Unlike the 

 distinct fins of many better-known fish, 

 its fin is connected and continuous, 

 gracefully curving around its pointed tail 

 and gliding along its underbelly. 



Scientists can pinpoint the eel's age 

 based on the pigment changes that occur 

 throughout its lifetime. For instance, as a 



22 HOLIDAY 1998 



