The life-cycle of eels

A podcast I’m enjoying at the moment is this one: The Knepp Wilding Podcast.

It’s probably my age, but I’m loving listening to a podcast all about nature and a re-wilding project.

Anyway, this week, the episode was about eels...

And, in the spirit of the Psalmist telling us that all creation declares the glory of God, let me offer you....

...the life-cycle of an eel!

The eels we find in UK streams and rivers and lakes are born in the Sargasso Sea (an area of the Atlantic ocean some 3500-4000 miles west of the UK, towards the US) – although apparently, their exact spawning grounds have never been precisely located.

These tiny baby eels begin a 2-year drifting voyage towards to the UK, at some point metamorphising into tiny, transparent, glass eels. When they arrive in UK waters, they find their way into our waterways, growing through the different stages of eel maturity, until they reach adulthood.

Depending on all sorts of circumstances, they may well live up to 15-20 years in UK waters, before, at some point, driven by some inner instinct (scientists have no idea what), they make the return journey to the Sargasso Sea.

3500-4000 miles in the other direction.

Where they spawn.

And die.

And so the cycle starts all over.

There is no particular reason why I am telling you this.

Except, I think, to marvel.

I found it staggering when I learned this life-cycle...

...and was moved by just how little scientists actually know and understand about them – there is a degree of mystery to the eel!

It made me think of the book of Job.

Job has questioned God.

God responds with a long list describing the magnitude, the marvel, the mystery of creation, each time asking of Job whether he understands the complexities of creation.

In response Job concludes: Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me.

I love that insight.

There are things too wonderful for us to fully comprehend. And all we can do is marvel.

The common eel among them.