Page 9 - Amazing Creations Volume Four

Amazing Creations 82

Richard Gunther

Come with us as we follow the journeys of the European eel.
We begin our 4000 mile (6400km) journey in Europe.
Adult eels slither across wet paddocks and wiggle down freshwater
streams, all of them heading for the salty Atlantic ocean.
They swim down under the ocean so far they haven't been
located there, but eventually they show up again in the Sargasso
sea, off the coast of Florida.
Here they spawn and die.
The eggs hatch and the larvae - like flat, transparent willow tree
leaves, rise to about 600ft (180m) from the surface and begin their
THREE YEAR journey back to Europe!
They arrive off the coast of Europe in winter, gather in estuaries,
and grow to adult size.
Now they switch to wanting fresh water and head up the rivers.
Five to eight years later they go back to the sea and mate.
Then they repeat what their parents did, and swim all the way
to the Sargasso Sea.
How do the baby eels know

where to go when they hatch?
How do they find their way across
6400km of ocean,back to the
place where their parents started?
The mystery is hidden in the
mind of the great Cod who
made them.