Eels are an order of fish which consists of four suborders, 20 families, 111 genera and about 800 species. That is a lot. And most of them are kinda ugly. Oh I know. Grandma said, “If you ain’t got nothing nice to say don’t say nothin’ at all.”
I don’t think she was talking about the eel. Most of them are pretty scary looking.
Eels are elongated fish, ranging in length from 2.0 in in the one-jawed eel to 4 m 13 ft in the slender giant moray. Adults range in weight from 1.1 oz to well over 55 lb. Oh and did I mention they are creepy looking?
Most eels are predators and nocturnal and live in the shallow waters of the ocean and burrow into sand, mud, or rocks. Because most eels are nocturnal, they are rarely seen. It is these times when they poke their little eel heads out of the rocks that make me smile. I have never seen it happen in the ocean but they have, or maybe had, eels at Silverton Casino in Las Vegas and I would often see them there. They may have taken them out to protect the mermaids.
One place I also like to see eels is on my nigiri sushi. But my friend Paul Kyriazi, who lives part time in Japan, tells me the Japanese government has officially added the nation’s freshwater eel population to its “red list” of endangered species after finding a 70 to 90 percent rate of decline over the last three generations. (Unagi is the Japanese word for freshwater eel, especially the Japanese eel.)
Maybe we should give eels a break. Even though they are creepy and scary looking they do look cool when they poke their heads out from the rocks and that always makes me smile.
Have you ever seen eels live? Share your thoughts in the comments. Would love to hear from you.
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