EUROPEAN EEL

Scientific name: Anguilla anguilla

Hi everyone,

Did you know that my family have lived in your river Calder for thousands of years, although there are fewer of us now, which is sad.

You call me an EEL, which is a funny word, but I’m not a snake, although I swim a bit like one. I am actually a fish, but you will notice that I have no fins.

I’m still young like you, but when I’m older I’m going on a long adventure back to the Sargasso sea where I was born, everybody does.

I’ve learnt to catch my food as I can swim very fast, but I also eat animals that have died or fish eggs and even insects when I jump out of the water.

I can also hold my breath and slither on land to another pool of water, I probably won’t be able to see you though, as my eyesight is not so good.

I make my home near all the water pools made after the coal mines in Wakefield closed, and hibernate with my family in the old tunnels and mines over winter.

You call me Daubenton’s Bat, after a French man who discovered us, but you could call us Water Bats instead, because we all love living by water.