The Silver Eel Controversy
Eels are unique creatures, but perhaps one of the worst things about them is how hard it is to track as well as keep them captive. At one point, 700 silver eels were being tracked by scientists using GPS tracking hardware. However, every single eel somehow disappeared. It is widely assumed some died or were eaten but every single eel couldn’t have disappeared like that. In another scientific study, 100 male and female eels were taken for a breeding project. Somehow, 95 of the eels died on the trip there and it’s really uncertain how this happened. The scientists then scrambled to make sure the remaining eels were taken care of.
These silver eels were then put in underwater cages in the Sargasso Sea. Somehow all of those eels also escaped and disappeared entirely. One of the biggest reasons scientists wanted to track silver eels or watch the breeding process was that each silver eel starts out as a yellow eel. It is uncertain what makes them want to go further into the sea and become “silver eels.” Some believe the mud they cover themselves in for a period of time does this, others believe a long-term hibernation is how they do it. Yet no one is sure, and it seems scientists are struggling to find out.