Don The Eel Man Visit

Don The Eel Scientist Visit Friday 22 March

Hello

Today we had a visit from an eel scientist who works for N.I.W.A which stands for National Institute of Water and Atmosphere. He taught us lots.  Here are the facts he taught us.

• Eels can swim forward and backwards.
• Female long fin eels grow to 2 metres and males to 1 meter.
• Eel have an ear bone that grow a line on it every day year so  you can take it out to see their age but sadly you have to kill them.
• Long fin eels are cannibals and will eat almost anything.
• To hunt they wait then strike when something goes past and try to rip the flesh off.  If they can't they spin round and round very fast - 10 times a second!!
• Eels eat duckling and when they eat crabs when they poop out the claws so that their bottom turns red!
• Eels pump water through their gills to survive.
• Females eels - the number of eggs they lay is massive it is 7-20 million eggs!!!
•  It takes 5 months for the eels to swim to Tonga.

This is the size of the biggest eel they have caught big right!!! 

Thanks for reading, Bryn.