Eel vs Cormorant
Across the deep blue waters of Clumber Lake, a tall black cormorant dived. It soon emerged, empty-beaked, near a bank of a small island wrapped in a blanket of plants. The bird dived again and the water stirred as it emerged with a small sea serpent. The cormorant tried to swallow the long eel but it escaped. The battle of predator and prey resumed as red feathers outlined an eye full of determination to eat and the eel wriggled furiously with a raging desire to survive. The battle soon took the cormorant and eel out of sight.
The Life Cycle of Eels
On the journey home, I couldn’t stop thinking about the battle and what had been involved. Upon returning, I booted up the computer and began to research: I’d always assumed eels lived in saltwater but that sea serpent the cormorant battled had to be an eel.
Surprisingly, eels live in both salt and freshwater. All European eels start as eggs floating in the Bermuda Triangle and drift towards Europe across the Atlantic. During this 1-2 year migration, the eggs hatch into larvae called leptocephali. Upon reaching Europe, these larvae have developed into glass eels, who then explore Europe for a home. They then live out the next part of their lives in freshwater as yellow eels, immature adults. When they reach the silver eel stage, the eels will migrate back to the Bermuda Triangle to lay and fertilise eggs.
After learning that eels live in the infamous waters of the Bermuda Triangle, I wonder if they could be the inspiration for mythical beasts like leviathans and sea serpents.
Threats
Sadly, the population of these fascinating fish has been decreasing. A recent BBC report states that there has been a ‘90% decline across the UK over the past 25 years’. Also, the last update by the IUCN in 2018 lists European eels as critically endangered and on the decline. This shows that the eel population is very low and possibly still on the decline.
But why is the population dwindling? Overfishing and viruses are two of many threats contributing to the decline. However, one of the main challenges eels face are the man-made barriers like weirs and dams that prevent them from completing their migration.
The Eel Pass
Clumber is one of several places helping solve this issue. At the weir, a green matting (previously thought to help ducks get back into the lake) has been installed in order to give eels a helping fin to enter and leave the lake. The eels cling onto the bristles attached to the matting (eel pass), wriggling up and into Clumber lake.


Journal of a European Eel
Starting as an egg, the eel drifted towards Europe from the Bermuda Triangle, eventually hatching into a leptocephali and making use of currents on the long migration. Upon reaching Europe, it had grown into a glass eel. Then, the glass eel explored the UK until it came to Clumber and reached the yellow eel stage.
It examined the area, seeing land that was too long to crawl across and a tall, unnatural barrier guarded by crashing water. The eel headed for the bank and felt around: there had to be some way up. Eventually, it found something bright green to cling onto and wriggled up finding more and more of the green things. Finally, it entered Clumber lake, the perfect home.
The yellow eel then settled down to live in Clumber for years to come until it was time to migrate back. One day, as it was nearing the silver eel stage, the eel was pulled out of the lake by a monstrous beak. The beast that had attacked was tall. The monster was cloaked in shadow. The attacker’s vicious eyes were surrounded by fiery-red feathers. The beast was a cormorant. Desperate, the eel wriggled, narrowly avoiding being swallowed many times.
I’m not sure what happened to the eel, but I hope it survived and will one day help the entire species recover from near extinction.