Why Were Eels Such A Mystery For 2000 Years Plus?

It is only in the last hundred years or so that we have started to find out about the life cycle of the common European eel. In ancient times, people thought the eel was a very strange creature because noone had ever seen a baby one. When they cut up eels, none of them appeared to have any sexual organs and noone could understand how they developed.

It turns out that eels mature in freshwater rivers in Europe but when they start to become sexually mature they head far out to sea and travel to their breeding grounds in Bermuda. On the way they develop sex organs, once there they mate and lay eggs, then die. Their eggs hatch and become tiny larvae, which look nothing like eels.

These drift about and take three years to get back to the coast of Europe – by which time they are fairly substantial eels. No wonder people were confused because they only time Europeans saw eels was between when they were three years old and just before they disappeared to mate.

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