The electric eel is a predator that has no enemies. River eel: description and habits
Eel - sea or freshwater fish with a specific spicy taste. Thanks to this distinctive feature All eel dishes turn out to be completely special and therefore very valuable from a culinary point of view. They are the best decoration for the festive table and are a guarantee that the guests will enjoy the feast (at least because of the feeling of “belonging” to something, if not unique, then at least quite rare). So, if possible, feel free to put eel on the table - you won’t go wrong!
It should also be noted that the high nutritional value eel, which mainly attracts most modern lovers of dishes from this extraordinary fish.
True, here it is necessary to make an important reservation: both sea and river eels can reach our table with equal probability (which, nevertheless, is born in the Sargasso Sea, after which it reaches us across the entire Atlantic Ocean). By chemical composition These types of fish are similar, but still have one very significant difference...
Chemical composition and calorie content of eel (river and sea)
First, we will summarize in a table all the data on the chemical composition and calorie content river eel, and then we will outline the main differences between its marine counterpart.
As for the conger eel, its main difference is low content fat - only about 2 grams (versus 30 grams for river fish).
In addition, these two types of fish differ in their maximum weight: a river eel can gain only up to 4 kg, while a sea eel sometimes reaches up to 100 kg. Moreover, their maximum length is almost the same (2 and 3 m, respectively).
Useful properties of eel
Due to the fact that eel contains complete proteins, all dishes made from this fish are very well absorbed by the body and prevent all kinds of metabolic disorders and weakening of the body’s immune response.
In turn, the fatty acids that this fish is so rich in accelerate metabolism and rejuvenate the body at the cellular level. They increase the elasticity of membranes, due to which all nutrients penetrate inside the cells much faster, preventing their starvation and pathological development (which is why oncological tumors usually develop).
In the east, it is believed that eel is able to restore and maintain “male strength” at a high level, as well as rejuvenate the entire body as a whole. Moreover, the latter is true not only for men, but also for women.
It is curious that the Japanese and Koreans use eel meat as a means of helping them endure serious physical exertion and heat without health consequences, as well as overcome chronic fatigue, inherent in representatives of these hardworking peoples. This effect is explained by the beneficial effects of polyunsaturated fatty acids on the cardiovascular system of the body. So you can safely adopt the experience of the Japanese and strive to eat this delicious fish more often.
Eel in cooking
Eel is easily amenable to absolutely any culinary processing, while maintaining its attractiveness and specific taste properties.
You can make delicious borscht, pickles, soups, salads, appetizers and fish soup from eel. Thanks to its unique taste properties, eel is ideal for preparing both first and second courses. And, of course, it fits perfectly into rolls and salads. In addition, eel turns out especially tasty if it is boiled in red wine.
Due to the fact that in almost every recipe eel is subjected to very complex pre-treatment, all dishes with this fish turn out to be especially tender. Each time, eel treatment begins with thermal treatment, the main purpose of which is to completely remove the slippery skin of the fish. This process can be greatly simplified by first rubbing a small pinch of salt in your hands.
However, not all eel recipes require removing the skin. For example, if the housewife is going to marinate or salt this fish, it is absolutely not necessary to remove the skin.
However, it is much more convenient and easier to understand “what’s what” using visual examples prepared for you by our culinary specialists...
In all centuries, people have been reverent about fish. In each country, culinary masters have developed their own unique dishes from this healthy product. Special treatment in many regions globe to eel delicacies. This is a rather rare guest in our rivers, so its cost is sometimes prohibitive. But in terms of taste and healing properties, it can compete with many marine inhabitants. The serpentine eel fish is a predatory species and constantly migrates from freshwater rivers to the seas.
Description
Uninformed people often confuse it with a snake, since in appearance it is very similar to it. The eel's body is elongated, its head is small, and its skin is slippery. When you see a predator, you might think that its body is completely naked, but this is an illusion. After clearing it of abundant mucus, you can notice the smallest scales.
The color range varies from dark green to bluish-black. The abdomen is either light white or bluish. Eel fish can grow up to two meters in length. To lay eggs, it swims to the depths of the sea; after spawning, the individual dies immediately. The female can lay up to 500 thousand eggs.
Predatory fish eel: where is it found, its variety?
The first mention of this species appeared more than a hundred million years ago. At first, the habitat was recorded off the coast of Indonesia. Adults move frequently. For what reason this happens is not yet clear. But it is known for sure that eels like the clay bottom, in which they find food (crustaceans, worms, snails).
Young fish first live in fresh water dirt river, densely populated with vegetation. By burying themselves in the mud, they protect themselves from different predators. Adult eels can be seen in reeds, under large stones and sedge thickets. These inhabitants prefer to get food for themselves at night, and for their own safety they change color.
Fish is usually divided into river and sea fish, although such a classification is not entirely appropriate, since individuals are constantly moving from freshwater into the salty one.
The river eel has a brown-green tint. Fish with a small amount of scales lives in the Azov, Black, White, Barents and Baltic seas. These predators are quite tenacious and are able to exist even without water and overcome considerable distances on wet grass. Don't be surprised if you come across "creeping" specimens in some body of water. Such fish will be distinguished by its fat content and high nutritional value.
Awarded with a monochromatic black calf sea eel. The fish is also practically without scales. Thanks to its inconspicuous color, it can easily disguise itself as dirt. Habitat: North Atlantic basins. Both predators feed small fish, crayfish and larvae. Until now, experts cannot fully study the life of these subspecies due to their secrecy. They rarely appear on the surface of the water and are increasingly found on great depth. This makes it difficult to observe and study.
Benefit
The fish is especially popular in Japan. In this country, they believe that the meat of these creatures is an excellent tonic and improves performance. Healthy fish oil from eel prevents heart pathologies. The pulp contains many proteins, polyunsaturated and saturated fatty acids, which help rejuvenate cells and get rid of nervous diseases.
In dietary nutrition, conger eel is more valued. Fish, beneficial features the meat of which is difficult to overestimate, very nutritious. It contains potassium and iodine. And, as you know, these minerals help strengthen the heart muscle and protect our thyroid gland. Conger eel meat is low in calories, which is very important for dietary nutrition.
It contains a wide range of valuable vitamins (A, B, E, D) and protein. Regular use Eating this delicacy in any variation strengthens the immune system and has a beneficial effect on the entire body as a whole. Dishes made from it are indicated for gout, rheumatism, malaise, depression, central nervous system disease, and atherosclerosis. Looking at the Japanese, who periodically eat fish and are distinguished by good health and high performance, you can be convinced of the healing properties of the meat of this predator.
Use in cooking
Eel fish is an expensive delicacy and is served in the best restaurants in the world. And this is not surprising, because the meat of this subspecies is very tender, soft and extremely healthy. And the pulp river dweller has a high fat content. The carcass is stewed, smoked, fried, baked and boiled - in any interpretation it turns out incomparable.
Spicy and unforgettable taste qualities are revealed when preparing first courses. Those who have tried fish soup or eel soup say that the dish outshines the taste of any other. Each country has its own original recipes. For example, in Lithuania it is customary to serve smoked eel with beer. Italy is famous for its grilled fish with green salad.
No matter how colorful the information is presented, the taste and aroma of eel cannot be described. Try to prepare the delicacy yourself, just be extremely careful when cutting it. Eel blood is toxic, and if it gets on the wound, an inflammatory process can begin.
How to cook eel fish: recipes
Cold appetizer in the form of salad. To prepare it you will need smoked fish eel (three hundred grams), potatoes (3 pcs.), bell pepper, three eggs, parsley, green onions, balsamic vinegar (dessert spoon), the same amount olive oil and spices to taste.
Cooking process
Boil eggs and potatoes, chop into small cubes or cut into thin slices. Pepper - into strips. Fish fillet - pieces. Place green leaves on the bottom of a flat plate, on top - potatoes, eggs, pepper, eel, chopped parsley - sprinkle with vinegar and oil.
Exotic soup
Ingredients: eel carcass (600 grams), one carrot, frozen peas (half a cup), leek and celery. You will also need two liters of pre-boiled chicken broth, one hundred grams of any dried fruit and a fresh pear. You can’t do without a spoon of wine vinegar, black pepper, garlic salt and granulated sugar (five grams).
Cooking method
Pour boiled water over dried fruits (raisins, dried apricots, prunes). Place grated carrots, sliced celery and leeks into the hot broth. Let it boil a little and add the swollen fruit. Let the liquid simmer for 7 minutes, and then add the eel, cut into portions, along with sugar, vinegar, salt and pepper.
Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. While the soup is preparing, let's take care of the pear - cut it into thin slices and sauté in butter. Place the remaining ingredients into the broth: peas, chopped parsley. Pour into portions and garnish with a piece of fried pear.
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Superclass: Pisces = Pisces
Class: Osteichthyes = Bony fish
Family: Congridae Kaup = Conger eels
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SEA EEL (Conger conger) or conger, which from the North Atlantic enters the Mediterranean, Black and Baltic seas. The northernmost point of its settlement is the waters off the coast of Norway. The sea eel is larger than the river eel, it reaches 65 kg in weight and over 3 m in length. Its leptocephali are very similar to river eel larvae, but reach 16 cm in length; they were described as Leptocephalus morrisi.
Apparently, like the river eel, it spawns once in its life and, having spawned from 3 to 8 million eggs, dies. The places and timing of its spawning have not been precisely established. It differs from the river eel in having a longer dorsal fin and a complete absence of scales. The color of the conger eel is brown, turning into a dirty white color on the belly. The dorsal and anal fins are light, bordered by a dark stripe. A light lateral line clearly protrudes on the sides.
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The conger eel is a voracious predator that feeds mainly on small and average size fish. Its powerful teeth easily crush mollusk shells. We have repeatedly observed how conger eels snatched fish entangled in them from nets. Favorite places his habitat - rocky shores, where he usually watches for prey, hiding somewhere in an underwater grotto or rock crevice. On the sandy bottom, it digs a hole for itself, just as the river eel sometimes does. Wherever the conger eel is found sufficient quantity, it is caught using hook and line gear - longlines and fishing rods baited with fish. Its meat is not as fatty and tasty as that of river eel, and in Europe it is valued much lower. In contrast, conger eels, which live off the coast North America, are considered one of the most valuable fish.
Sea eel
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An adult conger eel can reach quite large sizes, but, despite his size, he is very careful and even timid. And at the very first signals of danger, the eel instantly breaks away from the place where it was disturbed and hides in a reliable shelter. At the same time, this fish is very curious, and fishermen take advantage of this at night, when it swims out from its daytime shelter in search of food. And if you manage to catch him, then be prepared to fight a worthy opponent. Even if hooked, a conger eel can sink to the bottom and hide in a shelter, breaking your gear, as it is very strong...
The body color of a conger eel depends on the depth of its habitat. Most individuals have a dark body background, with a smoky gray back and a paler, silvery-yellow belly. Deep-sea fish have a sharp and hard dorsal fin. But the eel’s teeth are difficult to see, since they are located on the inside of the fish’s powerful jaws. The conger eel moves mainly at medium depths. Most often it hunts at the bottom. Small fish become victims of the eel. If you want to catch a big eel, then go fishing on a boat in the area underwater reefs. Interestingly, sea eels reproduce once in a lifetime. This happens near the Madeira Islands, in the most deep sea places. A spawning eel lays up to 15 million eggs. The eggs are transported to the continental shelf by the slow North Atlantic Current.
Commercial fishing for large eels is difficult and ineffective. This is due to the fact that eels live deep at the bottom, hiding among underwater debris. That's why large fish, whose weight exceeds 45 kg, live in relative peace. Smaller eels can even be caught from the shore. It is better to do this at night, since at night these predators approach the shore in search of food. For fishing, choose rocky places or rocky ravines.
Sea eels are good to catch in the Atlantic Ocean and North Sea at any time of the year, although July to October are best. In nature, its natural diet consists of small fish such as cod or sea bream, as well as different kinds lobsters, squids and small octopuses. The best places Underwater ruins and cluttered areas are used for catching eels seabed. Freshly caught fry of mackerel, a delicacy for eels, is ideal as bait for catching eels.
Eel - this wonderful fish at first glance resembles a snake, and therefore in many places in our country it is not even considered a fish and is not eaten. The long body of the eel is almost completely cylindrical, only the tail is slightly compressed from the sides, especially towards the end. His head is small, slightly flattened in front, with a more or less long and wide nose, as a result of which other zoologists distinguish several types of eels.
Both jaws, of which the lower one is slightly longer than the upper one, are seated (also the plow bone) with small, sharp teeth; the yellowish-silver eyes are very small, the gill openings are very narrow and are moved to a fairly considerable distance from the back of the head, as a result of which gill covers do not completely close the gill cavity.
The dorsal and anal fins are very long and, together with the caudal fin, merge into one continuous fin, bordering the entire back half of the body. The soft rays of the fins are generally covered with rather thick skin and, as a result, are difficult to distinguish. At first glance, the eel seems naked, but if you remove the thick layer of mucus that covers it, you will find that its body is covered with small, delicate, very elongated scales, which, however, for the most part do not touch and are generally located very irregularly.
The color of the eel varies significantly - sometimes it is dark green, sometimes bluish-black; the belly, however, is always yellowish-white or bluish-gray. The real habitat of the eel is the rivers of the Baltic, Mediterranean and German seas. In our country, this fish is found in large quantities only in southwestern Finland, in St. Petersburg, Baltic Sea, and some northwestern lips. (even, according to my information, in Smolensk province, precisely in the Belaya River, a tributary of the Western Dvina) and in Poland.
In addition to rivers, the eel lives in many large lakes - Ladoga, Onega and Chudskoye, from which it also enters the shallow Pskov Lake. In Ilmen, however, it is not. From the waters of the Baltic basin, the eel probably penetrated through canals into the rivers of the Black and Caspian Seas in this century, but it is still very rarely found here. Only single specimens occasionally reach the Volga, as Prof.
Kessler from fishermen in Vyshny Volochyok, Rybinsk, Yaroslavl and Yuryevets, but they do not breed there; they are probably often confused with river lampreys here. According to O. A. Grimm, eels sometimes reach Saratov, but in any case they are a very rare phenomenon in the Volga and are unlikely to reach the Caspian Sea.
Only in some rivers flowing into the upper Volga are eels found quite often, namely in Tvertsa, where they probably came from Lake. Mstino, but recently they have disappeared from this river. In the same way, only isolated, so to speak, lost individuals are occasionally seen in the Dnieper, Dniester and Danube, but, apparently, from ancient times, since Gyldenstedt (in the last century) says that the eel is found in the river. Ostra (in the left tributary of the Desna), near Nezhin.
It probably entered the Dnieper basin from the Neman through the Pinsk swamps, and in general the upper reaches of the Black Sea and Baltic basins are located at close distances and, moreover, are connected by canals. Kyiv fishermen sometimes find eels in the stomach of large catfish and believe that they must be found not far from Kyiv - in the Dnieper or Pripyat; Mogilev fishermen also stated to prof. Kessler that eel is found occasionally in the Dniester.
Finally, in the seventies, K.K. Pengo was delivered an eel caught in the Sea of Azov near the Petrovskaya village. As for the presence of eels in the Danube, in the spring of 1890, the fishing society in Galati ordered more than half a million young eels from Altona in Schleswig, which were released into the Danube, on the Romanian coast.
In all likelihood, the eels will fully acclimatize here and will breed (in the sea). The river eel, says Prof. Kessler, is not a completely freshwater fish, but more like a fish migratory, since it does not spend its entire life in fresh waters, but periodically leaves them for the sea. However, there is an important difference between the eel and other migratory fish.
The fact is that all other migratory fish, as far as we know, grow in the sea and rise from there up the rivers to spawn; the eel, on the contrary, stays in the sea at a young age. fresh water and then for spawning it goes down the rivers to the sea.
When an eel wanders along rivers, neither rapids nor waterfalls can stop it. For example, the high Narva Falls, which serves as an insurmountable barrier for salmon, does not at all constitute a similar barrier for the eel. It is not known, however, with certainty how the eel gets over the steep waterfalls that it encounters, like Narvsky, especially since it cannot make high jumps.
In all likelihood, he bypasses them, crawling over wet coastal rocks; true according to at least the fact that he can very deftly crawl on wet soil and can live out of water for up to half a day or more. The reason for the survivability of the eel out of water is that the gill leaves, due to the elongated shape of the gill cavity and the narrowness of the gill openings, remain moist for a very long time, capable of supporting the respiration process.
The eel preferably sticks to waters with clayey or muddy soil and, on the contrary, if possible, avoids rivers and lakes with a sandy or rocky bottom. In particular, he loves to rotate between sedges and reeds in summer. For example, very significant eel fishing is carried out along the southern shore of the Kronstadt Bay, in those reeds that line the shore near the Sergius Monastery, and beyond Oranienbaum.
Here fishermen distinguish two varieties of it - the walking eel and the grass eel (sedentary). Fishermen make clearings or paths in the reeds, on which they place lines for eels. It should be noted, however, that the eel moves only at night, while during the day it remains at rest - “it lies in the mud, curled up like a rope,” as our fishermen put it.
In the same way, in winter, at least in our northern side, the eel remains motionless and buries itself in the mud, according to Ekstrem's testimony, to a depth of 46 cm. The eel is a carnivorous fish, it feeds on both other fish and their eggs, and various small animals that live in mud, crustaceans, worms, larvae, snails (Lumnaeus).
Of the fish he most often catches as prey, those that, like him, rotate more along the bottom of the reservoir, such as sculpins and lampreys; but, however, he also grabs all sorts of other fish that he can catch, and therefore often falls into the hooks of the lines baited by fishermen. I once happened to find the remains of a small chub in the stomach of a large eel, along with a hook on which the fish was probably attached when the eel grabbed it and swallowed it.
In spring and early summer, when almost everyone carp fish spawn, the eel preferentially feeds on these eggs and destroys a huge amount. By the end of summer and autumn in the Kronstadt Bay, its main food consists of crustaceans, Idothea entomon, which are known among fishermen as sea cockroaches. A very remarkable property of the eel is that, when it is caught and put in a tight cage, it vomits from the stomach a significant part of the food that has not yet had time to digest, especially if the stomach is tightly filled with it.
For example, it sometimes spews whole snails, crustaceans, and lampreys through its mouth. There is almost no way to hold a caught eel in your hands, as it is slippery, strong and resourceful. If you put it on the ground, then it moves along it quite quickly, forward or backward, depending on the need, and bends its body completely snake-like.
It can be quite difficult to kill an eel: the most terrible wounds are often not fatal for it. Only if his spinal column is broken, he dies relatively quickly. In addition, muscle contractility is maintained for a very long time even in cut pieces of eel. I happened to observe the correct movements of the lower jaw, the alternate opening and closing of the mouth in the severed head of an eel for more than a quarter of an hour.
The manager of one fish tank in St. Petersburg assured me that the surest way to quickly kill an eel is to immerse it in salt water, but experience did not justify this assurance; The eel I placed in a strong salt solution remained alive for more than two hours. Some interesting information about the eel from Russian authors are given by Terletsky, who observed it in the Western Dvina basin.
According to him, the eel lives here in many lakes, from which it passes through rivers, streams, and even overland into big rivers and rolls off to spawn in the sea. Its progress begins in May and continues throughout the summer. During this time, he does not have a permanent home, but migrates from place to place. Single eels, i.e. those that do not reproduce this year, do not leave the lakes in which they live, and although they travel in rivers, they do so only over a certain distance.
At normal water levels, the eel sticks to deep, quiet places with a muddy, grassy or sandy bottom. When the water rises high, it is often found in coastal pools, in which it crawls and burrows even during the day. It looks for food mostly at night at the bottom, and during the day it buries itself in silt, crawls under the roots of coastal trees, under stones, etc.
Total more interesting experiments Terletsky, proving that eels can crawl from one body of water to another overland over 0.5 km or greater distances. He kept eels in a special pool on a stream, and from here he carried them to a fairly considerable distance, even half a mile, and gave them freedom. The experiments were carried out at dawn, in the evening and at night, on moist soil.
The eels immediately, bending in a ring like snakes, crawled completely freely and quite quickly, at first in different directions, but then soon turned towards the river and headed towards it in a more or less straight direction. They changed their path only when they encountered sand or bare ground, which they diligently avoided. Having found themselves in a square sloping towards the river, they tried to speed up their pace and, apparently, were in a hurry to get to their native element as quickly as possible.
An eel can freely stay out of water for two, three or even more hours on a warm day. It can wander on land from evening until sunrise, especially if the night is dewy. Until recently, the reproduction of eels remained very obscure, and even now it has not yet been fully studied, which depends, of course, on the fact that the eel goes to sea for this task. (The Danish ichthyologist Schmidt in the 20s of this century and other researchers established exactly where, how and when eels spawn.)
At under ordinary conditions The eel grows quite slowly, reaching a length of 107 cm no earlier than in the fifth or sixth year of life, but, however, continues to grow for a very long time, so that sometimes there are individuals that are up to 180 cm in length and are thicker than a human hand. According to Kessler's observations, an eel 47 cm long weighs about 800 g, and an eel 98 cm long weighs about 1.5 kg; In addition, there are indications that an eel 122 cm tall weighs from 3 to 4 kg, and therefore one must assume that the largest eels must weigh at least 8 kg.
There is almost no information about fishing for eels in Russia, that is, in the waters belonging to the Baltic basin. It is only known that eels are caught with a fishing rod both in the Neva and in many areas of the Baltic Sea and Vistula lips. and in the northwestern region. We only know, from the words of Terletsky, that the eel bite in the Western Dvina begins in June, when the eel takes good bait on bottom fishing rods, and that the bite, at first quiet and unnoticeable, turns into a strong swing of the rod. The most complete information about pike perch and bersh fish is located -
In Western Europe, fishing for this fish is very common and is done in quite a variety of ways, some of which, no doubt, can be used by Western Russian fishermen. For this reason, and also due to the lack of information about eel fishing in Russia, I find it necessary to give brief descriptions of almost all methods of catching eels with fishing rods in Germany and France.
Catching eels with fishing rods begins in Western Europe in the spring and lasts mostly until the beginning of October, since in November the eels either go to sea (adults) or bury themselves in the mud, often in whole balls, and remain in hibernation until the warm weather(we probably have until the hollow water is drained).
Since the eel is a nocturnal fish and during the day hides in holes, brushwood, stones and similar shelters, it is rarely caught in the middle of the day or in special ways, in holes, or only after a warm night thunderstorm and on very hot days before a thunderstorm, when it comes out of burrows closer to the surface of the water and stays under the shade of aquatic plants.
However, in the spring, after a long winter fast, the eel takes well even around noon. Like all nocturnal fish, the eel has a very developed sense of smell and it is not difficult to lure it by throwing pieces of intestines dumped in the sand, pieces of fallen stones, or dropping a weighted bladder filled with blood and with a small hole into the water where they intend to catch. from which blood would leak.
Many German authors advise making the nozzle itself fragrant. Some are content to first dip it in Provençal or rosemary oil, others advise to flavor the bait by putting it (overnight) in a mixture (of equal parts by weight) of Bogorodskaya herb, honey and tallow renderings (cracklings). This mixture is dissolved over coals and then diluted with flour (wheat) mash until it becomes almost lard thick.
In some cases, when eels swim on top, they are fed with peas (green) or boiled hemp seed, ground with green peas. Eels are caught with a wide variety of baits and can rather be called an omnivorous fish, although the bread bait itself does not seem to be used anywhere. For the most part, it is fished in spring and summer for crawlers and red worms, and in the fall for small fish: live, and in the absence of such, dead minnows, loaches, lampreys, small loaches, minnows, small smelts, also for pieces of fish, best of all lamprey
In addition, in many places in Germany and France, hooks are set with green, and in the absence of it, with steamed peas, beans, Swiss cheese (see barbel), and in the fall with small frogs (the hook is stuck into the anus and pierced the thigh so that the frog can swim) or on skinned frog thighs; also for pieces of beef, even corned beef, and for liver cut into worms.
The Germans, keeping in mind the eel’s highly developed sense of smell, advise putting on the nozzle with clean hands, but I believe that this is both unnecessary and inconvenient. The eel has a small mouth and always swallows the bait, and therefore hooks should not be larger than No. 5, and it is even better to use No., No. 7-8, but with a thick shaft. For the sake of ease of removal, they recommend straight hooks (without bending to the side, with the tip pointed strongly outward).
Live bait is also always attached to single hooks, which are passed into the mouth and nostril. Since the eel has, although very small, but sharp teeth, which can fray the silk or hair line, then in general it is more prudent to tie the hooks to basque or wire leashes, and when fishing at night with several fishing rods and lines, this is even necessary. It seems that the basque and wire can be replaced by heavily spun hemp leaders.
The fishing lines must be very strong and durable - silk or hemp, as well as the fishing rods, and the reel should never be used with them. It is impossible to tire an eel and you should not fish it out if you do not want to risk losing fish and gear. An eel, feeling caught, always tries to hide in a hole, brushwood, under snags, or wraps itself around underwater objects. In such cases, even the most reliable tackle often does not help, and you often have to tear it off, if possible at the leash, or wait for the fish to perhaps release the line.
The eel's bite is very reliable; this fish is very greedy and rarely releases the bait, which, however, is explained by the fact that the eel often gets its teeth so stuck in it that it cannot immediately spit it out. In general, you should not delay hooking, especially when fishing with small baits - pieces of fish, peas, etc., and the eel is pulled out immediately after hooking, without any ceremony, trying only to drag it away from the water.
When pulling out, a net is used very rarely, because, firstly, the eel often slips into the loops, pushing them apart or breaking them, and secondly, because, wriggling, it wraps the fishing line around itself. For the same reason, having pulled the eel ashore, first of all step on the fishing line near the hook with your foot (otherwise the eel will tangle it) or hold it taut so that the fish’s head is raised all the time.
Then they cut its spine at the head or at the tail, or, after rubbing their hands with sand or earth, they take the fish by the head and hit the tail against some hard object (even a heel). The tail is the most sensitive place of the eel, since here, directly under the skin, there are two so-called lymphatic receptacles, the contraction of which can be easily distinguished.
You can also pick up an eel with a silk or woolen scarf, and A. Carr even says that you can hold it in such a way that middle finger was on top, and the index and ring fingers were below. But it goes without saying that you can only hold a small eel in your hands. Ruhlich advises handling fish over 3 kg more carefully, since a large eel, entangled around your arm, can break it.
It is difficult to remove live eels from the hook, but this is not necessary, because, being planted in a basket, and even more so in a net planter, they often leave. It is best to place them in baskets with a tight lid, the bottom of which is lined with a fairly thick layer of damp moss. In the same baskets, eels are transported over considerable distances. According to Morisot, an eel in a damp and fresh place (for example, in a cellar) can live without water for 6-9 days.
The hook is usually swallowed quite deeply and for the most part it has to be pulled out using a metal knitting needle ending in forks. Actually, fishing includes fishing with a float, fishing with a bottom fishing rod without a float, plumb or cast, then fishing with a needle and fishing without a hook. They usually fish with a float on big worm, mounted in scallops, or on several dung ones, but the sting of the hook should be well hidden, because a well-fed eel is very careful.
The float needs to be light and the sinker, also small, should lie on the bottom along with the nozzle. The eel takes the bait into its mouth slowly. The float sometimes falls down at first, but you should hook it only 2-3 seconds after it disappears under the water. They hook very sharply and strongly and, as said, immediately pull out the fish, just in case, away from the shore. Occasionally, just when eels swim on top, mostly after bad weather or a thunderstorm, they are caught in muddy water with a smooth fishing rod, and the bait (mostly green peas) should be shallow from the surface.
When fishing by weight in places with a more or less strong current, the weight of the sinker should correspond to the latter; rods are used both long and when fishing from a boat (on deep places), short. When fishing with a cast, with long lines, you fish only with short rods, and there is no need to hold them in your hands and you can fish with several.
A sinker, especially in fast places, is preferable to a round bullet, drilled through and freely sliding along the fishing line, to the leash, where it is retained by a pinched pellet. Such a mobile sinker makes it possible to feel the weakest bite in your hand. The tip of the rod when fishing without a float should therefore be quite flexible and sensitive.
Bottom fishing is mostly done in deep places, for example. in harbors, docks, and river mouths. Fishing “with a needle” and with a bunch of worms without a hook is used mainly during the day, when the eel sits in its burrows. These burrows are similar to those made by water rats and are often visible from the shore. The presence of eels in them is recognized by a small cloud of turbidity produced by the breathing and movements of the hidden fish.
It is possible, of course, although not so successfully, to catch using these two original methods, especially the first, and where eels have the habit of hiding in brushwood or stones. Pin fishing, which originates from Scotland, consists of general outline in that a needle is weakly stuck into the end of a long stick or fishing rod, on which a worm is attached.
This needle is tied in the middle to a strong fishing line, which is held in right hand, while with the left hand they carefully lower the stick into the water, at the opening of the hole so that the worm at the end of the fishing rod touches the edges of the latter. If an eel sits in it, then it will not fail to grab the worm, tear it off the stick and swallow it. When hooking, the swallowed needle, tied to the middle, becomes across the throat or stomach; the fish cannot free itself from this crossbar, and it is pulled out of the hole onto the shore.
In all likelihood, this method of fishing, in a more or less modified form, can be applied to fishing for other greedy fish, especially burbot, and therefore I consider it necessary to describe it in more detail. The fishing rod, of course, has nothing to do with it, and all that is required of it is length and lightness; sometimes 1-1.5 m of wire is tied to a simple stick, and a worm (put on a needle) is hooked onto its bent tip by the tail or head, or also Instead of sticking a needle into the end of a rod-stick, the worm is pinched in the fork at which this stick ends.
The needle should be quite thick (best used by tailors for buttonholes) and no longer than 5 cm, which is why the thick part with the eye is filed off and sharpened. The fishing line is strong, but thin, hemp (basque leash is inconvenient) or silk; its end is secured to the needle with the help of a thin silk, rubbed with varnish, similar to a tie on hooks, but only in the opposite direction, since it is required that the fishing line be attached to the middle of the needle, preferably an ordinary earthen (small) or large dung worm.
First, the entire needle is threaded into the front part, then its thick end is passed into the tail, as shown in the figure. It goes without saying that you should not rush into hooking and that you should drag the eel out of the hole carefully, without loosening the fishing line. Sometimes, for convenience, the fishing line is wound on a hand reel; in this case, it is useful to let the fish first reel in (or reel in themselves) a few centimeters of the cord.
Catching an eel with a needle Less productive and successful is fishing with worms strung on a woolen cord, based on the fact that the eel, having tied its small teeth in this cord, cannot immediately release them. On a short woolen cord, using a needle, several large earthworms; the ends of the cord are connected, the worms are arranged in a heap or festoons, and a fishing line with a heavy sinker is attached in the middle of this heap.
The rod must be long and strong, and since you have to fish at different depths (often significant), it is useful to use a reel to shorten and lengthen the fishing line. They fish without a float, in a plumb line, slightly raising and lowering the bait and leaving it alone for several minutes - where there are many holes. The eel, seduced by the abundance of food offered to it, grabs the bait; at the same moment, with a quick movement they pull it out, not allowing the teeth to unclench.
In addition to this method, in Germany they often catch eels using dead fish with a large float made from a bunch of reeds and a stone so that the eel cannot drag away the tackle. The fish is attached as follows: the leash with the hook is cut off and, using a needle, passed through the mouth into the anus so that the hook sticks out of the mouth. In order for the fish to lie on the bottom not sideways, but like a living one, the sinker must be in its belly.
A cord is tied to one end of the float, and the same string with a rather heavy stone is tied to the other. When setting, the length of both cords should significantly exceed the depth of the water, so that the set tackle would have the shape of a trapezoid, the top side of which is made up of a float, and the sides are made up of cords. You can place quite a lot of such shells, and fishing with them can be very successful.
Eel provides very tasty and healthy food. The inhabitants of the Comachio lagoons, who feed mainly on eels, are distinguished by their strong constitution and flourishing health. But for weak stomachs, eel meat, especially old eel (with a golden ring around the eye), is quite difficult to digest. But the main reason that not only here in Russia, but even in Western Europe in some places they don’t eat eel at all, is its resemblance to a snake.
The most delicious eels are those with a silver belly. The tastiest and most digestible are eels fried with spices and a lot of pepper, also fried and then marinated in vinegar. Large eels must be boiled before frying. Raise eels or keep them, at least not in big swimming pool, very easy. But in most cases, eels planted in a pond or lake that has at least the slightest connection with a river or other flowing lakes, having grown, soon leave.
Eel is too general a name for ray-finned fish that have a number of characteristics and form whole squad- Eels (lat. Anguilliformes).
General description of acne
All eels are characterized by a serpentine body shape. Their body gradually narrows towards the tail; in some representatives of the order it is not flattened laterally, that is, round in diameter, which makes them even more like snakes. And their movement in water is like a snake’s: while swimming, a wave with a constant amplitude passes through their body, whereas in ordinary fish towards the tail this amplitude increases. This method of swimming does not allow them to achieve high speeds of movement, but it allows them to save a lot of energy.
Their body is not covered with scales, but with skin, the surface of which contains mucus.
Eels do not have pelvic fins, which is why they are also called legless.
Their fins are soft, without spines or hard rays, and often merge with the caudal fins, running like a fringe along the entire body. As for pectoral fins, many species lack them.
The swim bladder is reduced, fused with the intestine.
Eels have small teeth in their mouths.
The gill slits are very narrow, and gill rakers are completely absent.
Eels have a lot of vertebrae (in some species up to 260), and may lack ribs.
Many acne contain ichthyotoxins in the blood - toxic substances, which, when released into the blood of warm-blooded animals, destroy red blood cells. When eel serum is injected into the blood, a warm-blooded animal will die, and the symptoms will be almost the same as with a viper bite. Moreover, the same ichthyotoxins are contained in the blood of fish that are familiar to us - tuna, carp and tench. Why don't we die after eating them? The thing is that these toxins are destroyed in the stomach. But if they get on abrasions, it can cause painful inflammation. In addition, during heat treatment, ichthyotoxins are destroyed; for this, only +58 o C is enough, that is, frying and boiling leaves no trace of them.
Eels are a very representative group of fish, numbering 22 families, including about 350 species. Located in different taxonomic groups acne may look completely different from each other. Compare, for example, the moray eel and the well-known river eel. A significant part of eels live in the seas of the subtropical and tropical zones, although some species are found at great depths, where the water temperature is slightly above zero degrees. Only eels are freshwater, or as they are also naturally called, Freshwater eels (lat. Anguillidae).
Not all representatives of eels are suitable for food, but only representatives of some families: Anguillidae, Muraenidae and Congridae. Let's look at some representatives of these families.
Also known as the Atlantic conger, or simply conger (lat. Conger conger). Lives in the eastern part Atlantic Ocean from the Bay of Biscay to West Africa. Frequent in the Mediterranean Sea, sometimes found in the North Sea up to the Faroe Islands and the southern coast of Norway. There were cases of capture even in the Black Sea.
Description of the conger eel
Is one of the most major representatives order eels. Females twice larger than males, adult individuals often reach a length of 2.4-3.0 m with a weight of up to 100 kg and more. Males do not exceed 1.3 m in length, and usually their sizes are even more modest. The conger eel reaches 20 cm in diameter.
This fish has a very large, slightly flattened head and a large mouth with thick lips. Each jaw has two rows of teeth: the external teeth form closed rows of incisors and perform a cutting function; the internal teeth are small, like spikes. There are also larger conical teeth on the palate and vomer.
The body of the conger eel is covered with skin, the back is dark gray or brown, the belly is golden or light brown.
Conger Eel Lifestyle
The conger eel is found both off the coast and in the open sea. It thrives both in shallow water and at depths of up to 500 m. In the Ionian Sea, the conger eel is found at depths of up to 1171 m.
All descriptions of the conger eel indicate that it is a predator. Its diet includes cod, pollock and silver pollock, various crustaceans and cephalopods.
Puberty occurs at the age of 5-15 years (such a wide range is explained by living conditions, primarily by the food supply). Spawning occurs in the summer in the eastern part of the Atlantic and in the Mediterranean Sea, at enormous depths - over 3000 m. The conger eel spawns once in its life, after spawning the fish dies. One female lays from 3 to 8 million eggs. Pelagic caviar, small. The eggs hatch into larvae, which in eels are called leptocephali. Until they reach a length of 16 cm, they drift in the surface layers of water (1-2 years).
Sea eel in cooking
Conger eel is valuable commercial fish. The annual global catch of this fish in the best years reaches 20 thousand tons. They catch it with bottom trawls and longlines.
Sea eel reaches store shelves both chilled and frozen. It has very tasty meat, which is especially good when smoked. Often conger eel is used to make canned food.
River eels (lat. Anguilla) are a genus of eels with 19 species, also belonging to the family Acne. Found in temperate and tropical waters basins of the North Atlantic, western part Pacific Ocean and in the Indian Ocean.
Description of river eels
River eels have everything characteristic features eel-like appearance (see above).
At a young age, females differ from males in having a wider head, but as they mature, representatives of both sexes have narrower heads. Adults are brownish in color and have yellow sides. Sexually mature eels are easily recognized by their dark back and metallic sheen on their bellies and sides.
Lifestyle of river eels
The larvae of river eels, also called leptocephali, are shaped like a willow leaf. What is interesting is that as leptocephals develop, their length does not increase, but decreases, and when leptocephals are turned into fry, the latter turn out to be one and a half times shorter than the former.
The fry enter rivers and lakes and grow there until puberty, leading predatory image life. They hunt only at night. As soon as they have puberty, they roll into the sea and go to spawn at a very greater depth. So it is possible to call river eels river with a certain degree of convention.
River eels in cooking
All species of this genus are subject to commercial fishing. Their catch is increasing every year, which makes various environmental organizations wary. In this regard, some countries have taken up aquaculture of river eels.
The most famous species of eel in Russia is the common river eel. Let's get to know him better.
Common river eel
Sometimes it is simply called the river eel (Latin: Anguilla anguilla), and also the European eel, the common eel, and the common river eel. River eel is on the brink due to poaching complete disappearance, therefore it was included in the International Red Book (2008), which, however, has not yet made it scarce (eel is easy to get in European stores). The main part of the population lives in the reservoirs of the Baltic Sea basin, a smaller part - in the rivers and lakes of the White, Barents, Black, Azov and Caspian seas. It is found in most rivers and large lakes of the European part of Russia.
The river eel is able to crawl on grass, as long as it is damp (after rain or dew). Thus, he can move from one body of water to another. This is how he populated all the drainless lakes.
Description of the river eel
The color of the river eel varies greatly. Juveniles are dark green, olive or gray-brown in color, they lack any markings, and the belly is yellow or yellowish-white. In adults, the belly becomes silvery-white.
The body is very elongated: with a length of up to 2 meters, the river eel weighs no more than 4 kg.
Larvae of river eels (leptocephali) up to 7.6 cm in size.
The remaining morphological features of the river eel are characteristic of all eels.
Lifestyle of the river eel
The river eel is a typical migratory fish. It spends most of its life in freshwater bodies of water and spawns in the sea. In fresh water bodies it prefers quiet backwaters, but is sometimes found in places with fast current. The depth of fresh water bodies is not of fundamental importance for the habitat of the river eel, just as the nature of the soil is unimportant for it, the main thing is that there are many secluded shelters in the reservoir (burrows, boulders, snags, thick algae).
It is a typical predator, and a nocturnal one, although if the prey is right in front of its nose, it will grab it at any time of the day. Prefers to hunt in shallow waters, eating small fish, frogs, mollusks, insect larvae.
To spawn, the European river eel makes a migration that is crazy in length - up to 8 thousand km from its feeding grounds. Moreover most of The river eel goes to the Sargasso Sea to spawn, where the temperature of the upper layers of water is heated to 17-18 o C. Having reached this sea, it goes to a depth of 400 m, spawns and immediately dies. One female leaves up to 500 thousand eggs and even more. The leptocephali hatched from the larvae are shaped like a willow leaf, almost transparent, only the eyes are black. The larvae are so different from the adults that they were once considered a separate species fish After hatching, they float to the upper layers of the water and drift for several warm waters Gulf Stream to the shores of Europe. By the end of such migration, leptocephals reach a length of 8 cm and a height of 1 cm, then they stop feeding, shorten to 5-6 cm in length and degenerate into a transparent (“glass”) eel. At this stage, eels enter river mouths. As they rise upstream, they lose their transparency and when they get to their feeding grounds, they are not much different in appearance from their adult relatives, except perhaps in size.
The European eel spends 9-12 years in rivers and then goes to spawn. By the way, scientists still don’t know exactly how the river eel navigates. There are only two hypotheses: 1) according to currents, 2) according to magnetic field Earth.
Common river eel in cooking
The European eel is a fish that is highly valued in cooking, and therefore is the object of fishing, both industrial and sports, and amateur. Its annual global catch is 8-10 thousand tons. The easiest way to catch an eel is with regular hook and line gear, although it is possible to use a variety of traps.
Meat European eel soft and very tasty. It is fried, pickled, smoked. Fish soups made from eel are considered the most delicious dishes.
Mined in industrial scale Eel is partially used to make canned food, the most famous of which in Russia is “Eel in Jelly.”
Nutritional value of river eel (per 100 g)
The nutritional value
Macronutrients
Useful properties of eel
Eel meat is a very nutritious food product. Its calorie content is approximately the same as that of fatty pork. But eel is better than fatty pork, if only because most of its fats consist of unsaturated fatty acids, and therefore will not cause harm to the body. Such fat will not increase the level of “bad” cholesterol in the blood. Still, people who tend to be overweight should not overeat on eel.
Eel is rich in protein, which contains all the essential amino acids. Therefore, acne is indicated for physical exhaustion, high physical activity and as part of recovery (after severe operations) diets.
Eel contains a lot of omega-3 fatty acids, which prevent the development of many cardiovascular diseases, especially atherosclerosis.
The Japanese love eel because, in their opinion, it helps relieve fatigue in extreme heat and thus helps to better tolerate extreme high temperatures. It is noteworthy that in Japan the highest price for eel dishes is at the height of summer. Moreover, at this time of year, the Japanese cook eel on the grill.
Eel is very rich in various vitamins, especially vitamins A and E. In terms of vitamin A content, eel is a record holder among food products. Who doesn’t know, vitamin A improves vision, the condition of epithelial tissues, skin, hair and nails. The only thing comparable to it is cod liver. It also contains a lot of vitamin E, and this vitamin is a powerful antioxidant, therefore it slows down the aging process.
Harm to the river eel
Very small quantities eel should be consumed when overweight(high calorie content!). Due to its high fat content, it is contraindicated for diseases of the liver and gallbladder, as well as for chronic gastritis.
Eel is an allergen, so it is contraindicated for asthma and a high tendency to allergic reactions.