• Question: Have you ever found a rare species of fish in the ocean

    Asked by Owenthomas to Lauren on 11 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Lauren Laing

      Lauren Laing answered on 11 Mar 2016:

      HI Owen, great question:
      I have seen a European Eel!! They have a fascinating development cycle, which begins with their birth out at sea and continues in freshwater streams thousands of miles inland, where they can grow to a length of 4.5m. When the Eels are mature, and ready to breed, they return to the sea to spawn! This can happen anywhere from 6 to 30 years of age!!!

      If for some reason their route to the sea is blocked, they return to freshwater and can live for 50 years. But if they make it back to sea water and reproduce, they die.
      As you can imagine, because of this really interesting, and long life cycle, any eel that is caught at sea is a juvenile that has not yet had a chance to spawn. Therefore, that Eel will not go on to reproduce, this means the European Eel is really overfished and has been listed on the critically endangered species list.

      Here is a video of the European Eel by Jack Perks, he is a Natural History photographer:

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