Eel EPUB

by Schweid Richard Schweid, Schweid Richard Schweid

Part of the Animal series

EPUB

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Description

When pulled from the mud of creeks, ponds, rivers, or the sea, the eel, with its slick, snake-like body, emerges as an extremely mundane and even unappealing fish. But donâ€™t let the appearance fool youâ€”the eel has been one of the worldâ€™s favorite foods since ancient Greece, and the eelâ€™s life cycle is one of the most remarkable on the planetâ€”during the middle ages, impoverished Londoners survived on eel and the eel later saved the Mayflower pilgrims from starvation on American shores.

In Eel, RichardSchweid chronicles the many facets of these slippery creatures from their natural history to their market value and contemporary consumption to their appearance in art and literature and finally to their present threatened status. So far, eels have steadfastly refused to reproduce in captivity, apparently requiring the vastness of the open ocean to successfully matureâ€”which has imperiled the speciesâ€™ long-term survival. Schweid explains that freshwater eels are born in remote ocean depths and make a journey of thousands of miles to fresh water where they spend most of their lives before making a return journey to the ocean to mate and die.

Well-illustrated and containing many little-known facts about this surprising fish, Eel will appeal to general readers of natural history and others wishing to discover something more about the common unagi on the sushi menu.