214
Mystery solved! (mander.xyz)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz
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[-] Xanthrax@lemmy.world 40 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

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@lemmy.world 43 points 1 year 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.

[-] steal_your_face@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 year ago

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

[-] tubbadu@lemmy.kde.social 25 points 1 year ago
[-] powerofm@lemmy.ca 27 points 1 year ago
[-] samus12345@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago

What, every eel in the world?

[-] WeirdAlex03@lemmy.zip 31 points 1 year ago

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.
[-] olicvb@lemmy.ca 20 points 1 year ago

~~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

[-] dalekcaan@lemm.ee 11 points 1 year ago

Tbf salmon do the same thing

[-] olicvb@lemmy.ca 28 points 1 year ago

shit that's right

OMG this came to mind:

[-] samus12345@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago
[-] nieminen@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Love your icon and name. Metroid FTW

[-] samus12345@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago
[-] I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

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

[-] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 15 points 1 year ago
[-] Etterra@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

Underwater at least; there are fresh water eels.

[-] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year 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.

[-] RacoonVegetable@reddthat.com 9 points 1 year ago

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

— Sam O’Nella

[-] atocci@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

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

[-] HenriVolney@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 year ago

Very interesting indeed! Thanks for sharing!

[-] flicker@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

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

this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2024
214 points (94.2% liked)

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