this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2024
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Mystery solved! (mander.xyz)
submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] Xanthrax 39 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (2 children)

That makes sense. It's relatively warm; there's a bunch of seaweed, and the waters are calm.

Edit: Wait, how was this a mystery?

"The 1920–1922 Dana expeditions, led by Johannes Schmidt, determined that the European eel's breeding sites were in the Sargasso Sea."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sargasso_Sea

[–] IMongoose 42 points 4 days ago

Hank Green can tell you the full mystery:

https://youtu.be/acEIGorImGs?si=_xi2IF-GEssAuyZ-

tl:dw: We knew that's where baby eels came from but we didn't know how the adults got there or what the larvae looked like. Baby eel larvae was misidentified as another species and adult eel can take up to 18 months traveling at the bottom of the ocean to get there, during which time they grow their gonads which was another mystery.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 days ago

for anyone curious it got its name from the seaweed that grows there https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sargassum

[–] [email protected] 23 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 27 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] samus12345 19 points 4 days ago (1 children)

What, every eel in the world?

[–] [email protected] 30 points 4 days ago (3 children)

First line even before the main article

Summarized: Key Takeaways

  1. The Sargasso Sea is the breeding ground for all freshwater eels, where they travel thousands of miles to spawn and then die.
[–] [email protected] 20 points 4 days ago (1 children)

~~Am I missing something? How is it a freshwater eel if they're in the sea?~~

oh damn they migrate to the sea before reproduction

Confusing when you think of freshwater fish that can't survive in saltwater. So then i'm guessing the baby eels just spread back out to freshwater sources

[–] [email protected] 11 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Tbf salmon do the same thing

[–] [email protected] 28 points 4 days ago

shit that's right

OMG this came to mind:

[–] samus12345 10 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] nieminen 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

Love your icon and name. Metroid FTW

[–] samus12345 1 points 3 days ago
[–] I_Has_A_Hat 1 points 4 days ago

Wait, aren't there some eels that exclusively live in freshwater caves?

[–] FuglyDuck 15 points 4 days ago (1 children)
[–] Etterra 9 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Underwater at least; there are fresh water eels.

[–] FuglyDuck 6 points 4 days ago

From the included article-

When it’s time to mate, eels are very determined to make it to their breeding site at the Sargasso Sea. The Sargasso Sea, a two-million-square-mile span of ocean,  is the site in which all freshwater eels mate

It’s way the hell down there in the article, though. Apparently they travel to freshwater as larva.

Eels are freaking weird, man.

[–] flicker 9 points 4 days ago

This is absolutely wild! I'm so glad I saw this today.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 days ago

Very interesting indeed! Thanks for sharing!

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 days ago (1 children)

“What’s a nibba gotta do to get some eel D!!!”

— Sam O’Nella

[–] atocci 3 points 3 days ago

As it turns out, eels don't grow their testes until mating season, which is why Freud was unable to find them.