James Prosek on Eels

I recently stumbled across James Prosek's new book, Eels: An Exploration From New Zealand to the Sargasso, of the World's Most Mysterious Fish. I ordered it from Amazon.com sight unseen and was pleasantly surprised. I have the softcover version. It's exactly the kind of book I like when traveling. Compact size, the paper has a nice feel, and the font is beautiful.

This book is about the eels that live in freshwater in New England, not about the huge green eel (the moray eel) in the Boston Aquarium -- two completely different fish.

The slimy, black eels in New England freshwater live in those rivers and creeks for decades. At some point in their lives, they leave New England and swim to the Sargasso Sea near Bermuda to spawn. No one has ever located the spawning area of the eels in the Sargasso, although the last chapter of the book suggests a researcher may have finally found the spawning area.

The author devotes most of the book to three geographic areas: New England, particularly Maine; New Zealand, the Maori culture; and, Japan, where eel is an important part of the Japanese diet.

Due to declining eels, the US banned all export of eels from the US except from Maine.

Japan is a big importer of eel, and much of their eel comes from Maine.

I don't always care for the author's writing style; it takes forever for him to get to the point. Too much dialogue with his hosts wherever he travels; dialogue that is banal. I guess it depends on the mood I am in when I read the book. If it's quiet and I'm simply reading to relax, the writing style is fine, but if I am reading to learn something about eels, it can be a bit disappointing. Someone reviewed the book at Amazon.com and I have to agree: we both expected a bit more science.

Having said that, this is another perfect book for reading on that six-hour flight across the pond to England, to prepare yourself for another Anglo delicacy, along with mushy peas, beans and bangers, and fish and chips.