Eel - this fish looks like a snake at first glance, and therefore in many places it is not even considered a fish and is not eaten. The eel has a very long body, almost completely cylindrical in shape, only the tail is slightly pressed from the sides. Its head is small and slightly flattened in front. According to the nose of an eel (sometimes more or less long and wide), some zoologists divide eels into several types. The upper jaw of the eel is slightly shorter than the lower, both of them are covered with small and sharp teeth. It has small yellowish-silvery eyes, and the gill openings are very narrow and quite far removed from the occiput, as a result of which the gill covers do not completely cover the gill cavity. The anal and dorsal fins are very long and merge into one single fin along with the tail. Looking at an eel, it seems that his body is naked, but this is not so, if you remove a thick layer of mucus covering it from it, you can see the smallest, very strongly elongated scales covering its entire body. The color of the eel varies greatly and is sometimes bluish-black, sometimes dark green, but the belly is always either bluish-gray or yellow-white.

The spread of eel.

Eel is most common in the rivers of the Mediterranean Baltic and German Seas. In addition, it is found in large quantities in southwestern Finland, in the St. Petersburg, Baltic and some northwestern provinces, as well as in Poland. In addition to rivers, the eel lives in many large lakes- Onega, Ladoga and Peipsi, of which it enters Lake Pskov. From the Baltic basin, through canals, it entered the rivers of the Caspian and Black Seas. There are very few of them in the Volga. Only in some rivers that flow into the upper Volga, eels are much more common. Occasionally, eels are found in the Danube, Dnieper and Dniester. They most likely got into the Dnieper basin from the Neman through the Pinsk swamps.

Habitats in the reservoir and habits of the eel.

The eel prefers places with muddy or clay soil, and avoids places with sandy or rocky bottoms. In summer, he very often crawls between reeds and sedge. For example, a lot of eels are caught along south coast Kronstadt Bay in the reeds near the shore of the Sergius Monastery and beyond Oranienbaum. It should be noted that the eel is in motion only at night, during the day he prefers to lie down at rest. Similarly, in winter, at least on the north side, the eel is immobile and burrows into the mud.
In many places, starting from May and throughout the summer, the course of the eel begins. During this time he did not have a permanent home. Eels that don't breed don't leave the lakes they live in.
The eel sticks to deep and quiet places. With a high rise in water, it is often found in coastal whirlpools in which it digs even during the day. He searches for food mainly at night at the bottom, and during the day he digs into the silt, goes under the roots of coastal trees, hides under stones, etc. Based on Terletsky's experiments, eels can crawl from a reservoir to a reservoir, and for decent distances.
The experiment was carried out at dawn, in the evening and at night, on moist soil. Terletsky carried the eels to fairly considerable distances, and gave them freedom. That hour, the eels crawled freely, initially in different directions, but soon they turned towards the river and moved towards it in a more or less direct direction. They changed the road only when they met with sand or a naked snake. Once on a sloping area going to the river, they accelerated significantly. Two, three or more hours an eel can freely stay without water.
A caught eel, like a burbot, is very difficult to hold in your hands, as it is richly covered with mucus, strong and very resourceful. It is also quite difficult to kill him, sometimes it seems that the wound inflicted on him is very critical, but in fact it is not fatal for him. Only breaking his spine, he dies pretty quickly. In an eel, muscle contractility is reduced even if a piece is cut off from it.

Eel nutrition.

The eel is a carnivorous fish, it feeds on both fish and their eggs, as well as various crustaceans, worms, snails and larvae. Of the fish, those that walk along the bottom of the reservoir, such as sculpins and lampreys, are most often its prey, although it also eats other fish that it can catch, and therefore it often falls into the line.
In spring and early summer, when almost all cyprinids begin to spawn, eels eat this caviar with pleasure, destroying huge amounts of it. By the end of summer and autumn, crustaceans become the main food of the eel.

Reproduction of eel and its development.

For reproduction, the eel goes to the sea, and looks for places with a temperature of 16-17 degrees, and after spawning it dies. Its eggs are about 1 mm in size, one female is able to sweep up to 500 thousand of them. Larvae hatch from the eggs, which resemble a willow leaf. The body of the larvae is translucent, and only its eyes are clearly visible, they are painted black. Eel larvae are very different from adults, so for some time they were considered separate view fish. Having reached about 8 cm in length and 1 cm in height, the larvae stop feeding, and decrease in size to 5-6 cm, turning into a glass eel. It still remains transparent, but its body is already becoming oval from the sides and taking on a snake-like shape. Now they head to the mouths of the rivers, rise upstream and acquire adult coloration.

The eel family consists of several species. In appearance, there is little difference between them. Their difference mainly lies in the habitat. The most famous representative of this family is the river eel. In many countries, this species of the eel family is a delicacy. But due to the unappetizing appearance of eel, not everyone will agree to taste it. And in vain, because it contains great amount useful minerals and proteins that can enhance human immunity.

Description

In appearance, the river eel can be narrow-headed and blunt-nosed. Fish belong to the family of predators. Unfortunately, this fish has not been fully studied. River eel is characterized by:

On the body of the river eel there are small scales. Their size is so small that they are almost invisible. . In exceptional cases, body length fish can exceed 2 meters. As a rule, the standard body length of the fish is 1 meter. The females are slightly longer than the males. Usually 5-10 cm. The mass of mature fish can reach 6 kilograms. The river eel gains weight all his life. Therefore, it is generally accepted that the older the fish, the more it weighs.

River eels have a predominantly dark green dorsal coloration. There are individuals with a brownish tint. The belly area is always light. As they mature, individuals acquire a more saturated color of the back, and their abdomen becomes lighter.

Do not forget that in addition to the river eel, there is also a conger eel. Distinguishes him from his brother larger size. Its mass can reach 100 kilograms, and its body length can be more than 3 meters. Just like the river counterpart, marine predator, an elongated body that is completely devoid of scales. As a rule, the head, with thick lips, is slightly wider than the end of the body. Almost all individuals of this species have a brown back. Light belly when hit sunlight reflected in a golden glow. On the tail of the conger eel is a line of dark color, giving the conger eel a peculiar outline. It is worth noting that the tail is much lighter than the entire body.

Habitat

This predatory fish more than 100 million years ago in the vastness of the ocean near Indonesia. Initially, the eel was exclusively sea ​​fish. But over time, the eel began to spread throughout the world and began to live in rivers and lakes. According to their specificity, rivers are considered an intermediate habitat. river eels, as well as sea ones, are mainly distributed in rivers that flow into the following seas:

In addition to the listed seas, eels are located in many lakes and ponds. The largest number of individuals live in the territory Baltic Sea.

River fish eel can be found in reservoirs With big amount mud. The most favorite habitat is the area overgrown with reeds. The fish has a unique ability: it is able to crawl over land from one reservoir to another. In this way, the eel can reach the endorheic lake. The fish feels great out of the water due to the skin, which can absorb oxygen.

Basically, the fish lives in reservoirs with a small current, but sometimes it can be found in fast-flowing rivers. The eel prefers swimming in the lower region of water bodies.

reproduction

For a long time, the process of reproduction of these animals was a mystery to everyone. No one has ever seen what their caviar looks like. But, at the end of the nineteenth century, scientists proved that the process of their reproduction occurs in exactly the same way as in all other fish. Appearance eggs are significantly different from their parents. Therefore, for some time they were considered a separate species and even gave it a name - leptocephaly.

The fertilization period begins at the 9th year of life of individuals. It is at this time that you can distinguish the male from the female. Fish go to sea to spawn. In thickets of sargasso algae, descending to a depth of 400 meters, the process of reproduction begins. It is worth noting that the water temperature for the fertilization process should not be less than 14 degrees and not exceed 18 degrees. Basically, the female lays 500 thousand larvae. After the end of spawning, the eel dies.

The size of the eggs does not exceed 1 mm. The body of the larva is completely transparent. Its shape resembles a leaf compressed on the sides. To become a full-fledged fish, the larva must go through several stages:

After the larva has become a full-fledged fish, it lives up to a maximum of 15 years. Then it goes to spawn, where inevitable death awaits it.

Characteristics of behavior

By nature, fish are predators. It is predominantly active at night. Juveniles most of the time spend on the coast, while already adults try to go closer to the bottom, where, burrowing into the ground, they hide from daylight. The depth of the shelter can be up to 80 centimeters. Mostly fish choose muddy terrain as shelter, trying to avoid rocky ground.

As night falls, the eels come out of their hiding place and go hunting. Fish move rather slowly, like snakes. They can move on land only if it is wet. Poor eyesight is compensated by an excellent sense of smell. They are able to smell prey at a distance of up to 20 meters.

River fish live in water enriched with oxygen. Animals are activated in early spring and lead a mobile lifestyle until the onset of frost. With the onset of cold, the fish hibernate. It looks like driftwood sticking out of the ground. Moreover, only the head is in the form of a snag, when, like the rest of the body, it is securely hidden in its shelter. After the end of the cold season, eels become active again and begin to search for food.

Very often you can meet this predator in reservoirs where pike live. It is this fish that is the most delicious treat. And also carp caviar belongs to the favorite dish. Having lived in the reservoir for about 5 years, the predator acquires the ability to hunt from cover. All caught prey fish eats at the bottom.

For a long time we did not know the main thing about the eel: how, when and where it produces offspring. For a long time, people, when cutting fish when cooking, got used to finding caviar or milk in it at the right time of the year. But for the eel, that proper time didn't seem to exist at all.

river eel or European eel(Anguilla anguilla) is a species of predatory catadromous fish from the eel family. In 2008, it was included in the IUCN Red List as a species "critically endangered". It has a long wriggling body with a brownish-greenish back, with yellowness on the sides and abdominal part. The skin is very slippery and the scales are small. It feeds on insect larvae, mollusks, frogs, and small fish. Reaches two meters in length and weighs 4 kg.

No one could say with certainty that he had seen the eggs of an eel, and about a thousand years ago Aristotle summed up the folk experience, stating that "the eel has no sex, but the depths of the sea give rise to it."

A little later, they found out that eels can live quite a long time without water, but only if they are surrounded by a humid environment. From here came the stories that eels come out of the rivers at night. Such a phenomenon cannot be considered impossible just because the eel is a fish. Of course, he will not encroach on peas or steal young lentils, since he does not eat plant foods, but he can prey on insects or earthworms.

But if eel walks did not give rise to much controversy, since the idea was simply agreed upon, things were different with questions of reproduction. There was a real secret here. And each author developed his own theory. Konrad Gesner, writing in 1558, still tried to keep an open mind, saying that all who studied the topic of their origin and reproduction adhered to three different points vision.

According to one, eels are born in mud or moisture. Apparently, Dr. Gesner did not regard this idea very highly.

According to another theory, eels rub against the ground with their belly, and the mucus from their bodies fertilizes the silt and soil, and they give birth to new eels not male and not female, since eels are said to have no sex differences.

A third opinion was that eels reproduced by spawning like all other fish.

A little later, zoologists acted very logically: they dissected eels in the hope of finding, if not caviar and milk, then at least organs capable of isolating them in due time. And they found what they were looking for. At the same time, the fishermen provided additional and seemingly very simple proof.

Every year in the autumn they noticed that many adult eels go down the rivers and disappear into the open sea. And in the spring, huge schools of small, several centimeters long, eels enter the rivers and slowly make their way upstream.

These eels are transparent, which is why they are called “glass eels” on the coast of the European continent. So about 150 years ago, scientists decided that the dispute was over. The eel has been recognized freshwater fish that spawns in the sea. This is what the question looked like in the middle of the 20th century. But the researchers had no idea what surprises awaited them in the near future.

In 1851, the naturalist Kaul caught a very interesting sea fish. She was curious above all for her appearance. If you put a few of these fish in a salt water aquarium, then, at first glance, the aquarium will seem empty. Looking closer, you can see several pairs of tiny black eyes that float "by themselves".

A long observation will help you to see the watery shadows: they trail behind the eyes like tails. Pulled out of the water, this fish looks like a laurel leaf, only big. A kind of bay leaf made of flexible glass, thin, transparent and fragile. The fish can be placed on a newspaper or book and print can be easily read through it.

Dr. Kaul began to study the literature in search of a description of this fish and, finding nothing, described it himself. According to the scientific tradition, he picked up her name: leptocephalus brevirostris. That seemed to be the end of it all.

However, two Italian ichthyologists, Grass and Calandruccio, read Kaup's description and decided to study Leptocephalus further. At first it was a routine: they caught fish near Messina, prepared an aquarium and planted several leptocephaluses there. The fish ate, swam in circles and looked - at least those parts of them that were visible - quite healthy.

But they got smaller! The largest of the leptocephaluses was 75 mm long when caught. While he was being watched, he became a full 10 mm shorter. In addition, he lost weight and lost his leaf-like shape. And then, quite unexpectedly, he turned into a young "glass" eel!

Recovering from their astonishment, Grassi and Calandruccio announced that the leptocephalus discovered by Kaul was nothing more than an eel in the larval stage or a fry of an adult eel. River and lake eels immediately began to be considered teenagers who, having matured, again returned to the sea. The adult eel, the Italians concluded, lays its eggs on the bottom of the sea and probably perishes, since no one has ever seen large eels enter the estuary from the sea and swim upstream.

Transparent young "glass" eels

The eggs hatch into fry, which Dr. Kaul mistook for a leptocephalus. They remain in the bottom layers of the water until either they do not turn into, or are preparing to turn into a young eel. Then the young eels swim all the way into the less saline waters until they finally enter the rivers.

Grass and Calandruccio explained why leptocephalus is so rare. Because it sits at the bottom of the sea. They were just lucky, and they got the larvae from the Strait of Messina, where the currents often bring the inhabitants of the deep to the surface. If you make Leptocephalus more or less visible by placing it on a sheet of black paper, you will notice that its body consists of many segments.

Scientifically, these segments, similar to chain links, are called mayomers. The Italians thought that the number of segments could correspond to the number of vertebrae in an adult eel. And they proved that this is so: if you have the patience to count the number of segments in a fry, you can tell how many vertebrae an adult will have.

All this was great, but the story is not over yet!

Another year, another sea, another scientist. In 1904, in the Atlantic, between Iceland and the Faroe Islands, the Danish biologist Johannes Schmidt, working for the Royal Fisheries Ministry, was on board the small Danish steamer Thor. Throwing a net from the side, Schmidt caught one transparent "laurel leaf", so famous by Italian scientists.

In length, he could compete with the largest specimens from Messina. Dr. Schmidt felt a pleasant excitement: for some unknown, but probably amusing reason, the leptocephalus was near the surface of the water. But later, the same transparent fish began to be caught in other parts of the Atlantic.
On sea ​​map Western Europe a line is visible where the depth is three thousand feet.

Sailors call it "the 500 fathom line". To the west of it - the abyss of the Atlantic, to the east - shallow seas that flooded part of the continental land. Schmidt noted that approximately in the region of this line at the end of summer, 75-mm leptocephaluses accumulate when their transformations, described by Grassi and Calandruccio, begin.

By the next spring, they become young eels and come to the mouths of European rivers. After trial and error, Schmidt realized that the place where the eels started their journey from was most likely the Sargasso Sea.

The Sargasso Sea, undeservedly known as a graveyard of lost ships that lose their way in a floating ball of thick rotting algae, is actually a region Atlantic Ocean, where in warm waters algae of a special kind grow in southern latitudes.

Having an oval shape, the sea stretches from north to south for about a thousand miles and two thousand from west to east. It rotates slowly around its axis, as it is constantly pushed by ocean currents and especially the Gulf Stream. The center of this rotating sea lies a few hundred miles southeast of Bermuda, and the islands themselves are located on the edge of the Sargasso Sea. How close to the edge depends on the time of year as the amount of algae varies.

The expedition, which was to trace the path of the eel to its actual spawning ground, set sail in 1913 on the small schooner Margarita. Schmidt and his assistants noticed that the farther along the Gulf Stream they moved, the smaller the leptocephaluses became. The spawning ground was in the area of ​​the Sargasso Sea - this expedition established exactly. Alas, after only six months of work, "Margarita" was thrown ashore in the West Indies. And then the world war began.

In 1920, Schmidt returned to work - on the four-masted motor schooner "Dana" (remember this name!). And I found out that the European eels that leave the rivers of Europe in autumn seem to move with a constant high speed and get into the Sargasso Sea for Christmas and New Year. Where they spawn is still not exactly known: it is not found in the algae floating on the surface, although they are overgrown with caviar of other fish.

She doesn't seem to be seabed because the ocean under the Sargasso Sea is very deep. During the first summer they grow up to 25 mm, during the second this length doubles, and during the third it reaches 75. After the transformation, they enter fresh water and go up the rivers. In the three years leading up to the transformation, they move about a thousand miles a year, "rolling" most of the time in the currents of the Gulf Stream.

American eels also spawn under the Sargasso Sea, but in a slightly different area. Their spawning ground is closer to the shores of America. The American eel also travels a thousand miles a year, but grows to a length of three inches in one year. He does not need more time for this, because he is much closer to the mouth of the rivers, in which he spends most of his life.

Do young eels go astray? So far, nothing like this has been seen! The mystery of migration has not yet been solved. But let's talk about another mystery.

After sailing in the Sargasso Sea, the ship "Dana" participated in another expedition, around the world. It took place in 1928-1930. The collection collected by the expedition is now in the marine biology laboratory in Charlottenlund. There is a leptocephalus in the collection, caught at a depth of about a thousand feet near the extreme point of Africa, 35 degrees 42 minutes south latitude and 18 degrees 37 minutes East.

This leptocephalus has a length of... 184 cm! An adult eel of this species is unknown to anyone... If it grows in the same proportions as an ordinary eel, then a monster is obtained... more than 20 m long. We will not argue that this is the famous giant sea ​​serpent, but let's still ask ourselves the question: what would have grown out of him if he had remained free?

However, the American researcher William Beebe in 1934, diving in a bathysphere off Bermuda to a depth of 923 m, noticed that such leptocephals swim in pairs. Therefore, it is likely that some deep-sea leptocephalians are neotenic larvae, i.e. can reproduce without undergoing metamorphosis and throughout life without turning into an adult form.

Giant leptocephalians are still found today

May 19th, 2015

This is a real, record-breaking conger eel, caught by fishermen from Devonshire (Britain). The weight of the monster is almost 60 kg, and the length is more than 6 meters. A real fishing jackpot!

Let's find out more about this creature...

Photo 2.

Eel is not an ordinary fish. Outwardly similar to a snake, it has a cylindrical shape, only the tail is slightly compressed from the sides. The head is small, slightly flattened, the mouth is small (compared to other predators), with small sharp teeth. The eel's body is covered with a layer of mucus, under which small, delicate, oblong scales are found. The back is colored brown or black, the sides are much lighter, yellow, and the belly is yellowish or white.

Eel is both freshwater and marine. Appeared on Earth more than 100 million years ago, first in the region of Indonesia, the eel began to live in the region of the Japanese archipelago - especially in Lake Hamanaka (Shizuoka Prefecture). This creature is very tenacious, able to live even without water with a small amount of moisture. Currently, there are 18 species of eel in the world.

Photo 3.

The river eel belongs to anadromous fish, but unlike sturgeon and salmon, which go to breed from the seas to the rivers, the eel goes to spawn from fresh water to the ocean. It was only in the 20th century that it was discovered that the eel breeds in the deep and warm Sargasso Sea, which, being the gulf of the Atlantic, washes the shores of North and the islands of Central America. The eel spawns only once in its life, and after spawning, all adult fish die. And eel larvae powerful current carries to the shores of Europe, which takes about three years. At the end of the path, these are already small glassy transparent eels.

Juveniles enter our water bodies in the spring from the Baltic Sea and disperse along river systems and lakes, where they usually live from six to ten years.

Photo 4.

The eel only feeds on warm time, mainly at night, during the day they burrow into the ground, exposing only their heads. With the onset of frost, they stop feeding until spring. Eels love to feast on various small animals living in mud: crustaceans, worms, larvae, snails. Willingly eats eggs of other fish. After four or five years in fresh water the eel becomes a nocturnal ambush predator. It eats small ruffs, perches, roach, smelt, etc., that is, fish that live at the bottom of reservoirs.

Having reached puberty, eels rush along rivers and canals to the ocean. At the same time, they often get into hydraulic structures, which can even cause emergency situations. But most eels bypass obstacles, crawling like snakes some of the way on land.

The taste qualities of eel are well known. It can be boiled, fried, marinated and even dried. But it is especially good in smoked form. It is a delicacy served at the most sophisticated banquets and receptions.

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And there is also Electric eel - the most dangerous fish among all electric fish. In terms of the number of human victims, it even outstrips the legendary piranha. This eel (by the way, it has nothing to do with ordinary eels) is capable of emitting a powerful electric charge. If you take a young eel in your hands, you feel a slight tingling, and this, given that the babies are only a few days old and they are only 2-3 cm in size. It is easy to imagine what sensations you get if you touch a two-meter eel. A person with such close communication receives a blow of 600 V and one can die from it. Electric eel sends powerful force waves up to 150 times a day. But the strangest thing is that, despite such weapons, the eel feeds mainly on small fish.

To kill a fish, an electric eel is enough to shudder, releasing a current. The victim dies instantly. The eel grabs it from the bottom, always from the head, and then, sinking to the bottom, digests the prey for several minutes.

Electric eels live in shallow rivers South America, are found in large numbers in the waters of the Amazon. In those places where the eel lives, most often there is a large lack of oxygen. Therefore, the electric eel has a peculiarity of behavior. Eels stay under water for about 2 hours, and then swim to the surface and breathe there for 10 minutes, while ordinary fish only need to surface for a few seconds.

Photo 6.

IN Central Russia do not know the eel. But in the rivers, in the ponds and lakes of the Baltic States, the eel has always been an ordinary fish. This also applied to all of Europe, whose rivers flow into the Atlantic. Fish have always been caught in Iceland, England, France, Italy, Germany, in the Scandinavian countries, in some of the Russian waters connected with the Baltic.

And since the time of Aristotle it has been a mystery: how is this fish born? No one has ever seen eels spawn.

It was believed that they "are born from lake silt" or that eels sometimes "turn into earthworms". Ichthyologists smiled as they read their enlightened predecessors. In the last century, it was already understood that eels spawn somewhere in the salty water of the ocean. However, the spawning grounds and migration routes of snake-like fishes were explored only at the beginning of this century.

Today it is known that eel larvae (tiny two-millimeter transparent creatures) appear in the water column of the famous Sargasso Sea and are part of its plankton. They rise to the surface of the ocean and gradually turn into flat glassy leaves - not very noticeable to predators and well adapted to ocean drift.

Photo 7.

The means of transport in Europe for them is the Gulf Stream. Not quickly, but surely, a mighty current carries the larvae to fresh water. Translucent flat "leaves" gradually turn into "glass flexible sticks" half the size of a pencil. They reach Iceland in the third year of the journey, Scandinavia in the fourth and fifth.

In fresh water, translucent snakes turn into eels - voracious bottom predators that do not disdain either living or dead meat, eating frogs, snails, fish, worms and plant food.

In any book about this fish, we will find a statement: eels at night on wet grasses are able to crawl from reservoir to reservoir, they can even feed on land, preferring young peas. The physiology of fish seems to provide such an opportunity. Eel absorbs only a third of oxygen through the gills, two-thirds through the mucous skin. But in a book recently translated from English, I read: “Contrary to popular belief, eels do not travel on earth, but penetrate into isolated reservoirs through underground watercourses.” It is said categorically, but unconvincingly. What does groundwater mean? There are few of them. Or maybe, after all, at night on dewy grasses? It would be interesting to hear the testimony of eyewitnesses (I saw it myself!)

Eels grow and feed in ponds and lakes fat body(according to Sabaneev) up to four kilograms of weight. This fish is nocturnal, during the day it prefers to lie down, “curled up with a rope” in secluded muddy and shady places. All fish have an exceptional sense of smell, the eel is the champion among them. Connoisseurs say: “It was enough to drop a few drops of rose oil into the previously unpolluted Onega Lake so that the eel felt its presence.” The eel finds the bait nozzle easily and greedily grabs it, being on the hook “automatically”. It takes considerable effort to extract the hook from the dotted small teeth graze.

The snake fish is strong on the wound. Abundant mucus helps to heal the wound quickly. And the blood of an eel is considered poisonous.

Photo 8.

The vitality of the eel is great. "In a damp, cool cellar, test eels lived up to seven to eight days."

The life span of eels in nature (until the time of reproduction, which also means death) is from seven to fifteen years. But in a small, devoid of outlet reservoir, the experimental eel (according to Sabaneev) lived for thirty-seven years. This fish is very active. Always looking for living space. From mediterranean sea part of the eels enter the Chernoye and from there into some rivers of this basin. From the rivers flowing into the Baltic Sea, eels reach the Volga and some of its tributaries through canals and branched, not always marked on maps capillaries of the water system. But these are "lost" eels. There is no way back to the ocean for them.

It is curious that almost exclusively female eels are found in fresh waters. Smaller (up to 50 centimeters) males keep the coastal zone of the seas or in the mouths of the rivers. They are waiting for the mature females to start rolling down from the fresh waters into the sea in a runic (mass) course, and then the joint wedding and last journey of snake-like fish begins. (After spawning, the eels die.)

Even in fresh water, females acquire a marriage outfit: they become yellow, then silvery, their eyes enlarge. Once in salt water, eels stop eating. The maturation of sexual products (caviar and milk) is due to the fat accumulated in the body of eels. Fat provides the energy costs of movement against the Gulf Stream. Not very good swimmers (about 5 kilometers per hour), eels to the Sargasso Sea are doomed to swim for a long time. From exhaustion, their skeleton softens, they go blind, lose their teeth.

Photo 9.

Some ichthyologists believe that all eels die on the way, before they reach the place where they should spawn. And their wedding odyssey always ends dramatically - "they initially do not have the strength to reach the Sargasso Sea." Who, however, spawns there? It is believed that eels spawn, which grew in the fresh waters of America and which reach the close Sargasso Sea without difficulty. They are believed to supply the larvae that the Gulf Stream carries to Europe. But this is only an assumption that needs to be confirmed. In any case, it is still considered dangerous to catch all the eels moving along the rivers of Europe “to their death”, suddenly some of them reach the Sargasso Sea…

Most living organisms are sensitive to the salinity of water. Freshwater in ocean water die, marine organisms do not live in fresh water. Acne, as we see, is an interesting exception. They spend part of their lives in salt water and the other part in fresh water. But the exception is not the only one. Recall salmon - chum salmon, pink salmon, coho salmon, sockeye salmon, chinook salmon. The same story: part of life in fresh water, and part in salt water. But there is also a big difference. Salmon in fresh water (in clean streams and rivers) are born and roll into the ocean, where they grow into huge and strong fish, which the instinct of reproduction attracts again to freshwater rivers. Eels, on the other hand, are born in the ocean, and grow up (to strive later for their homeland) in the still fresh water of ponds and lakes.

You ask: and catching eels in the suburbs, how did they get here? Of course, not on your own! For many years, large reservoirs of central Russia have been inhabited by eels. Small ("glass") they are caught by the French at the moment when they rush from the ocean in huge numbers into the rivers. In water saturated with oxygen, small eels were delivered by plane and released to Seliger, Senezh, to storage facilities from which Moscow drinks water. Eels feel excellent here and very ingeniously settle down, using small streams, swamps and ditches, and maybe they still crawl on grasses.

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Eel meat contains about 30% high-quality fats, about 15% proteins, a complex of vitamins and mineral elements. Acne contains a large number of vitamins A, B1, B2, D and E. Beneficial effect on the human body great content protein in eel meat.

Few people know that in Japan, the popularity of eel meat increases closer to the summer, as eel helps to relieve fatigue in the heat and helps the Japanese to better endure hot summer period. Fish fat contained in the meat of the conger eel prevents the development of cardiovascular diseases.

Sea eel, in addition to its incomparable taste, is a source of omega-3 fatty acids, as well as sodium and potassium, which are necessary for health.

Eel is high in vitamin E, so hot weather The Japanese love to eat the so-called eel skewers.
Smoked eel also contains a large amount of vitamin A, which prevents eye diseases and skin aging.
Separately, one can note the usefulness of smoked eel for men - the substances contained in the eel have a beneficial effect on men's health.

Separately from the meat of the eel, its liver is eaten or soups are made from it. Since eel dishes are expensive, they are more often served to guests. A gift of an eel dish can adequately replace a bottle of good wine. Exceptional taste qualities eels are also revealed in the preparation of soups.

Photo 22.

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Eel is not an ordinary fish. Outwardly similar to a snake, it has a cylindrical shape, only the tail is slightly compressed from the sides. The head is small, slightly flattened, the mouth is small (compared to other predators), with small sharp teeth. The eel's body is covered with a layer of mucus, under which small, delicate, oblong scales are found. The back is colored brown or black, the sides are much lighter, yellow, and the belly is yellowish or white.

Eel is both freshwater and marine. Appeared on Earth more than 100 million years ago, first in the region of Indonesia, the eel began to live in the region of the Japanese archipelago - especially in Lake Hamanaka (Shizuoka Prefecture). This creature is very tenacious, able to live even without water with a small amount of moisture. Currently, there are 18 species of eel in the world.

The river eel belongs to anadromous fish, but unlike sturgeon and salmon, which go to breed from the seas to the rivers, the eel goes to spawn from fresh water to the ocean. It was only in the 20th century that it was discovered that the eel breeds in the deep and warm Sargasso Sea, which, being the gulf of the Atlantic, washes the shores of North and the islands of Central America. The eel spawns only once in its life, and after spawning, all adult fish die. A powerful current carries eel larvae to the shores of Europe, which takes about three years. At the end of the path, these are already small glassy transparent eels.

Juveniles enter our water bodies in the spring from the Baltic Sea and disperse along river systems and lakes, where they usually live from six to ten years.

The eel feeds only in warm weather, mainly at night, during the day they burrow into the ground, exposing only their heads. With the onset of frost, they stop feeding until spring. Eels love to feast on various small animals living in mud: crustaceans, worms, larvae, snails. Willingly eats eggs of other fish. After four to five years in fresh water, the eel becomes a nocturnal ambush predator. It eats small ruffs, perches, roach, smelt, etc., that is, fish that live at the bottom of reservoirs.

Having reached puberty, eels rush along rivers and canals to the ocean. At the same time, they often get into hydraulic structures, which can even cause emergency situations. But most eels bypass obstacles, crawling like snakes some of the way on land.

The taste qualities of eel are well known. It can be boiled, fried, marinated and even dried. But it is especially good in smoked form. It is a delicacy served at the most sophisticated banquets and receptions.

Useful properties of eel

Eel meat contains about 30% high-quality fats, about 15% proteins, a complex of vitamins and mineral elements. Eel contains a large amount of vitamins,,, and. A high protein content in eel meat has a beneficial effect on the human body.

Few people know that in Japan, the popularity of eel meat increases closer to the summer, as eel helps to relieve fatigue in the heat and helps the Japanese better endure the hot summer period. The fish oil contained in the meat of the sea eel prevents the development of cardiovascular diseases.

Sea eel, in addition to its incomparable taste, is a source of omega-3 fatty acids, as well as sodium and potassium, which are necessary for health.

Eel has a high content of vitamin E, so in hot weather, the Japanese like to eat the so-called eel skewers.

Smoked eel also contains a large amount of vitamin A, which prevents eye diseases and skin aging.

Separately, one can note the usefulness of smoked eel for men - the substances contained in eel have a beneficial effect on men's health.

Separately from the meat of the eel, its liver is eaten or soups are made from it. Since eel dishes are expensive, they are more often served to guests. A gift of an eel dish can adequately replace a bottle of good wine. The exceptional taste qualities of eel are also revealed in the preparation of soups.