American Eel
The American Eel is a snake-like fish up to 4 feet long that is listed as Endangered. The adult lives in freshwater lakes, rivers, and brackish estuaries along the Atlantic Coast from Venezuela north to Canada.
Threats include habitat destruction, such as dredging, barriers to migration, such as dams, and pollution. It’s generally nocturnal, and its color varies, depending on age. Considered a keystone species, the American Eel helps balance the aquatic ecosystem as it eats small fish and invertebrates and is eaten by larger fish and birds.
During the day, it buries into silt or hides under rocks and plants close to shore. It is considered catadromous, migrating to the ocean to spawn, the reverse of the spawning cycle of the salmon. The eel eggs hatch in the salt water of the Sargasso Sea, a region in the Atlantic Ocean near Bermuda. When adults return to the Sargasso Sea years later to reproduce and die, they will have completed a round trip migration as long as 5,500 km.
What do you love about this particular creature?
What do they reveal to you about God and our faith?
I’m enthralled by the eel’s ability to find a way literally to deal with life’s difficulties by using its own characteristic sliminess.
American Eels breathe through gills underwater, but they can travel a short way on land upon encountering barriers such as dams during migration up rivers. This is due to a mucus layer on their body, which also protects them from bacteria. As long as they stay moist with this slimy covering, they can breathe through their skin for several hours as they make their land portage.
How could each of us acknowledge and use our unique God given characteristics and gifts to live in this world and share our joys and abilities with others even when barriers come our way?
Author - Christine Hayes
Christie Hayes, a retired teacher living in Niantic, CT, is a passionate native plant gardener and birder who sees beauty and wonder in all of God’s creatures.
O God, having shown us how far your love goes in saving the lost and forgotten, mercifully grant that we might join you in the work of reuniting with all creatures; through Jesus Christ the Wisdom of Creation, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.
Creation Collect (Proper 19 Year C) from Season of Creation, A Celebration Guide for Episcopal Parishes