Today, I learned that eels are fish
7 days ago
- #mystery
- #biology
- #eels
- Eels have mysterious origins, with historical theories ranging from mud to sea foam.
- Aristotle and Japanese folklore had their own myths about eel origins.
- 19th-century scientists, inspired by Darwin, tried but failed to uncover eel reproduction.
- Sigmund Freud spent months dissecting eels in search of testes, with no success.
- Eels are now believed to spawn in the Sargasso Sea, deep in the Atlantic.
- Giovanni Battista Grassi discovered a mature male eel and linked the Leptocephalus to eels.
- Eels undergo multiple transformations: from glassy specs to glass eels, elvers, yellow eels, and finally silver eels.
- Silver eels return to the Sargasso Sea to spawn and die, completing their life cycle.
- Eels and salmon have mirrored life cycles—one born in the ocean, the other in rivers.
- Eels remain enigmatic, resisting a simple narrative and retaining their secrets.