Svensson, Patrick. The Book of Eels: Our Enduring Fascination with the Most Mysterious Creature in the Natural World. 2020. 241p. ISBN 978-0-06-296881-4. Available at 597 SVE.
Eels are some of the most mysterious creatures in the animal world. Born (we think) in the Sargasso Sea, they drift, translucent, at the mercy of currents that carry them all the way to North America and Europe, where they transform into glass eels, before moving out of the ocean into rivers and lakes. They then stay there for years, even decades, hunting, eating, and lurking in the depths and the mud. Eventually, something triggers them to transform once again, leave their home and return to the ocean, to then travel back to the Sargasso Sea to breed and die. At least that's what we think happens, as we've never caught a live eel or see them breed.
In this philosophical discussion about eels and transformation, Svensson weaves the story of his family with the story of the knowledge we have about eels, from Aristotle to the most recent efforts in 2018 to determine the causes of the precipitous decline of the eel population. From transformation to mysteries, the eel remains as elusive today as it was thousands of years ago. This is a book that will make you think about life and some of the enduring secrets that remain to be discovered, provided that we have enough time to do so before we inflict the greatest mass extinction the world has ever known.
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