These pictures come from Kilchoan Early Bird who writes, "I found this fresh water eel in a river today. I've not seen one in years - that said I've not really looked in years! The glass eels will have gone up the river by now. They arrive here round about the end of March, at the first full moon. This one was about four inches long."
The larvae of European eels travel with the Gulf Stream across the Atlantic Ocean, and grow to 75–90 mm within three years, before they reach the coasts of Europe. When they swim upstream they're called 'glass eels' because of the their transparency.
I had never thought that eels come in to Ardnamurchan's rivers: something else to look out for.
Many thanks to Kilchoan Early Bird for pictures and story.
Thanks for that one. We will be on the look out on our walks around the peninsula !
ReplyDeletePat MacPhail writes, "When I had the Kilchoan Hotel in the early eighties the burn, running through the bottom of the garden and under Pier Road, was teeming with baby eels in the spring. Would be interesting to see if they are still appearing there."
ReplyDeleteI saw an eel once in the little burn that runs down between the dunes to the beach at Sanna. It was about a foot long, the only one I've seen here. It was easy to stop in one of the deeper pools.
ReplyDeleteBack in the mid 1960s I used to holiday, as a young boy,at Kilmory.We used to see baby eels crossing through wet pebbles up into the Kilmory burn.They were probably pointed out to us by Angus Stewart,late of Kilmory. I also remember catching an eel in the Achetany water,just above the "new" road bridge, and watching a large shoal of sea-trout lower down the river.
ReplyDelete