Eel Encounters

This note collects single encounters with eels, whether with people or other animals, such as anecdotes, local stories, eyewitness records or press reports. Such accounts rarely count as evidence on their own. They show where eels unsettle human plans, institutions or feelings. That makes them useful for teaching, writing and design briefs. Each entry gives its place and source. It separates what the source reports from this note's reading, then ends with the questions it raises. Most sources come from outside the peer-reviewed literature, so entries link to them directly.

Australia

Elster Creek and Rippon Lea, Melbourne (2018–2026)

Setting. In the 1860s, Paddy's Swamp in Caulfield was reduced in size, then drained into a tunnel under Elsternwick and Glen Eira Road. Rippon Lea's water system, built in the same decade, tapped this drain to fill the estate's lake. Overflow from the lake runs through the railway cutting into the Byron drain system, then out to the bay (Rippon Lea Estate; Friends of Caulfield Park). Elster Creek drains a catchment shared by the cities of Bayside, Glen Eira, Kingston and Port Phillip (Melbourne Water). Its lower reach, the Elwood Canal, enters Port Phillip Bay at Elwood.
Litter. Most litter in Elster Creek washes down from retail precincts and transport hubs upstream. Cigarette butts make up 35% of it. Melbourne Water maintains two litter traps in the Elwood Canal, but it warns that more traps could raise flood risk on such low-lying land (Melbourne Water, 2024).
An eel in the drain. Short-finned eels turned up in Glen Eira's 2018 biodiversity survey only at the lake of Rippon Lea Estate, where one was "seen swimming up a drain into the lake". The nearest open waterway is the Elster Canal, 500 m away, so eels must travel at least that far through stormwater pipes to reach the lake. The survey lists eels as "possibly confined to Elster Ck area" within the municipality (Biodiversity in Glen Eira).
Sightings from the canal to the estate. iNaturalist records trace eels along this route:
- 29 October 2022: the Elwood Canal at Spray Street, Elwood (record).
- 7 November 2023: the Elster Canal path, Elwood (record).
- 17 November 2024: two eels in the canal at Broadway and Byron Street, the first swimming against the current near the surface (record).
- 26 May 2025: Rippon Lea Estate, Elsternwick (record).
- 29 March 2026: at least three eels at Rippon Lea, estimated at "between 2 and 3 feet long". The observer found them "not as big as the ones I remember back in the day over in the botanic gardens" (record).
Nearby, a pipe at Brighton. On 9 April 2026, an observer photographed an eel in shallow water over sand inside a large concrete pipe on the Brighton foreshore (record). Its identification still awaits confirmation.
Pigeons, by one observer's account. Gio Fitzpatrick, a naturalist who records the birds of Rippon Lea, told the lab in conversation that he has seen eels swim up and down the canal, trying to take pigeons from the banks. By his account, one attempt succeeded. Eels are known to hunt birds; see Australia.
Readings. The points below are this note's own.
- A heritage lake on an eel route. Rippon Lea's lake was built to store water, yet eels reach it through at least 500 m of pipes. The estate's nineteenth-century water system now carries eels as well as water.
- Litter traps and eel passage. The drains that carry litter to the bay also carry eels inland. Traps, screens or flood works on Elster Creek could therefore help or block eels, depending on their design.
- Predator and prey. If the pigeon account holds, eels in the canal hunt at the urban edge. Elsewhere in Australia, eels appear as prey of an egret in Brisbane and a dolphin in Adelaide.
- Memory as a baseline. An observer's memory of larger eels in the Botanic Gardens is an informal baseline. Large eel deaths occurred there in the 2004–05 summer; see Eels in the Present City.
Questions.
- Which drains link the canal to Rippon Lea's lake, and does the Byron drain, which takes the estate's overflow, form part of the route?
- Do eels leave the lake to migrate, and can they pass the canal's litter traps?
- Could cameras confirm eels taking pigeons from the canal banks?
- How could projects on Rippon Lea's buried waterways include eels? See Hidden waters under Implications for More-than-Human Design.

Kooyongkoot (Gardiners Creek), Ashburton (2020)

What happened. In early April 2020, residents alerted the Environment Protection Authority to dead fish in a duck pond on Gardiners Creek at Dorothy Laver Reserve, Ashburton. Melbourne Water removed about 40 dead carp (The Age, 3 April 2020). One witness reported "large numbers of dead carp (over 50) and eels", with "some alive struggling to breathe".
Causes. Melbourne Water judged that a lack of dissolved oxygen probably killed the fish. It blamed the oxygen loss on an unknown "soapy substance", low water levels and warm weather. The EPA could not trace the source of the substance. Witnesses asked whether someone had dumped chemicals during the COVID-19 lockdown, or whether recent dredging had contributed.
Readings. The points below are this note's own.
- Uncounted eels. The official tally named only carp, an introduced species. The native eels appear only in a witness's account.
- Streets in the creek. The pond lies on an urban creek fed by stormwater, so pollutants washed from streets can reach eels. Compare the deaths described under Drought and Die-Offs.
Questions.
- Did any agency record the dead eels or their number?
- How often do pollution events kill eels in Melbourne's urban creeks?

Lower Yeerung River, Cape Conran (2025)

What happened. On the evening of 27 March 2025, an observer near Cape Conran in East Gippsland estimated "two hundred dead eels decomposing in the lower reach of the creek". The observer added that "the creek mouth was closed from the sea by beach sand" (record). The record's coordinates fall on the lower Yeerung River.
Claims. A commenter suggested that a local toxic algal bloom had "probably" made the water anoxic.
Readings. The points below are this note's own.
- A closed mouth. A sand bar that seals a creek mouth also cuts the route to the sea. Eels trapped behind it may have had no way to escape the failing water.
- Timing. The deaths came in early autumn. At Lake Condah, by contrast, most eels left in spring; see Movement and Flows.
Questions.
- Did any agency investigate the deaths or test the water?
- How often do closed creek mouths in East Gippsland trap and kill eels?

Sherwood, Brisbane (2023)

What happened. At 4.50 pm on 23 February 2023, an observer near Sherwood Arboretum in Brisbane watched an intermediate egret catch and eat a short-finned eel (record). The egret held mainly the eel's head in its beak, with occasional rapid head twists. After about seven minutes, the eel was still.
Readings. The points below are this note's own.
- Eels as prey. In cities, eels feed wading birds as well as people. Compare the dolphin in Adelaide.
- A slow death. The eel stayed active for minutes in the egret's beak. For eel welfare in slaughter, see Welfare, Stress and Pain.
Questions. How often do wading birds take eels in Brisbane's urban waters, and at what sizes?

Kidaman Creek, Sunshine Coast Hinterland (2016)

What happened. A short-finned eel caught on 12 June 2016 appears in the Atlas of Living Australia with the note "Caught in a farm dam using small meat chunks as bait. Smoked and consumed." (record). The dam lies at Kidaman Creek, in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland.
Readings. The points below are this note's own.
- A record of eating. Here a biodiversity database doubles as a food diary. The only trace of this eel's presence is the record of its death.
- Farm dams. Farm dams hold eels far from estuaries. The smoked meal echoes older practices; see Settler Tastes.
Questions. How many eels live in farm dams, and can they leave to migrate?

Port River, Adelaide (2018)

What happened. At 7.12 am on 4 October 2018, Jenni Wrysta photographed a bottlenose dolphin known as Star tossing an eel it had caught in the Port River at Garden Island, Adelaide. Dan Monceaux posted her photographs to iNaturalist (record). He reported a similar interaction at about the same place on 28 October 2018. The photographer reportedly holds images of the behaviour from earlier years.
Range. Native Fish Australia considers short-finned eels rare in South Australia (species page). By Monceaux's count, the state's records in the Atlas of Living Australia cluster in the lower Murray, on Kangaroo Island and in the South East. All come from fresh water except those from the Lower Lakes. Dianne Bray, co-author of the Fishes of Australia species account, adds a record from the Onkaparinga River, on the western side of the Mount Lofty Ranges.
Possible origins. Ralph Foster of the South Australian Museum judged the species "uncommon in SA" but noted that it is "readily available live from some fishmongers", so "there's always the chance it was released". Monceaux asked whether a resident estuarine population lives in the Port River. Another commenter suggested that, if the catches recur at the same time each year, dolphins may be taking mature eels on their spawning run.
Readings. The points below are this note's own.
- Market or margin. Two stories compete: eels released from the live trade, as alleged in Perth, or a small natural population at the species' western margin. The first would make the eels a matter for trade regulation, the second a matter for conservation.
- Timing. Both catches fell in October, the season when short-finned eels at Lake Condah mostly left for the sea; see Movement and Flows. That fits the spawning-run hypothesis, although two dates cannot test it.
Questions.
- Do eels reach Adelaide's waters naturally, and could eDNA show a resident population in the Port River?
- When do the dolphins take eels, and does the timing track eel migration?

Hyde Park, Perth (2023)

What happened. At 9.52 pm on 22 August 2023, Dominic Williams photographed a short-finned eel in a pond at Hyde Park, Perth, then posted the observation to iNaturalist. He reports at least two eels in the park. iNaturalist classes the species as introduced in Western Australia.
The observer's account of their origin. He attributes the eels to a Northbridge seafood market that sells live eels, together with Buddhist life release by people unaware of its ecological impact. He photographed smaller eels at the market before the owner made him leave. He also asks why live eels from other states can be sold as food when trading "any live animal native to another state or territory as a pet" is illegal.
Turtles. He reports that a 2015 University of Western Australia survey of the park's turtles caught an eel by accident. By his account, eggs still hatch, yet no turtle recruitment has succeeded at Hyde Park for over 15 years. He has helped hatchlings reach the water since 2018, and he suspects that the eels eat them.
Responsibility. By his account, the City of Vincent would spend $5,000 on a further university study in 2022 yet would not address predation by eels. The city called the eels a matter for the state fisheries department, which disowned the task.
Other sightings. Commenters on the record report eels in a lake at Hillarys, "rumored to be from the restaurant trade". One calls Hyde Park "a bit of a fish dumping ground", while another recalls seeing an eel there years earlier. The observer adds a short-finned eel in a turtle pond at Landsdale.
Survey records. A survey of about 300 Perth water bodies from 2012 to 2015 caught a single adult Australian longfin eel, a larger east-coast species, in the lake at Lacepede Park, Hillarys, in September 2014. It was the first record of that species in Western Australia, and illegal release from the restaurant trade is its probable source. The same survey caught a jaguar cichlid, another species new to the state, at Hyde Park in January 2015.1
An earlier introduction. Short-finned eels reached Western Australia once before. In the 1890s, shipments from eastern Australia brought them for stocking into rivers and lakes of the south-west. They are not among the early introductions now thought to persist in the region's natural waterways.2
Readings. The points below are this note's own.
- Care that harms. If the observer is right, a release meant as compassion left a migratory fish in an urban pond with no evident route to the sea. Such an eel may live for years, as the eels in Melbourne Museum's Milarri Pond have, but it probably cannot complete its migration to spawn. Research on Buddhist release describes the same gap: its compassionate intentions "are often lost in the act".3 Precautionary principles for live release would exclude this case, because they ask that released animals be native to the place of release.4
- Rumour and record. A commenter's rumour of restaurant-trade eels in a Hillarys lake matches the 2014 survey record from the same suburb. The Hyde Park eels belong to a different species, the short-finned eel, which has the larger food market of the two.1 The trade may therefore bring more than one species to Perth.
- One species, two statuses. The short-finned eel is Near Threatened at species level, and Victoria manages it under a fishery plan. In Perth the same species appears as a suspected predator of turtle hatchlings. See Status in Victoria. Western Australia also once imported the species on purpose; see An earlier introduction above.
- A gap in responsibility. Trade brought live eels to Perth. Once released, they fell between a city that manages parks and an agency that manages fisheries. Elsewhere, law has reached release itself: in 2017 a court in the United Kingdom convicted and fined two Buddhists who had released non-native lobsters into the sea.4
- A lone witness. The observer spent more than five months gathering evidence of the eels. A comment on his record, "I knew I wasn't crazy", shows how a shared record can turn private sightings into corroboration.
Questions.
- Do the eels eat turtle hatchlings, and could diet studies or cameras show it?
- What do Western Australian rules say about selling live eels or releasing them?
- Which Perth shops sell live eels, of which species, and from which states?
- How do Buddhist communities in Perth understand life release, and what alternatives would they welcome? Practitioners interviewed in the United States welcomed such engagement and supported alternatives, such as working with fish-stocking operations.5 See also Religious Release and Memorial Rites.
- Who should decide what happens to the released eels, and how could the eels' own needs count in that decision?

Asia

Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan (2008)

What happened. Early on 23 January 2008, Kou-Ong Huang was fishing with a long-line near the public pier in Ghei-yah Bay, Sun Moon Lake, central Taiwan. He was after top-mouth culter, a local delicacy, but hooked a giant eel. He struggled with it for nearly an hour, until his friend Chia-Lung Lieu helped him land it with a large dip net.6
The spirit of the lake. They took the eel to the house of Huang's eldest brother in Toshe and kept it in an old steel boat filled with water. At first they took it for a monstrous Japanese eel and wondered whether it was "a monster or 'the Spirit' of the lake". Word reached the researchers that the next morning one of the brothers went back to the fishing site, where he "offered incense and paper money to the gods of the lake".6
Offer and gift. As news spread, someone offered NT$40,000 (about US$1,300) for the eel, but the offer was refused. On 13 February, the eldest brother telephoned the Endemic Species Research Institute to say that the three brothers wished to donate the eel for research and education.6
Decline in captivity. The eel had spent 26 days in the boat, where the brothers fed it minnows and loaches. On 16 February, the researchers found it lying on the bottom in about 15 cm of muddy water, with the hook still in its mouth. In a tank at the institute it often lay belly up, ate nothing and developed a fungal infection on its back. It died on 3 March 2008.6
Identity. The eel measured 175 cm and weighed 18 kg. DNA analysis identified it as an Australian longfin eel (Anguilla reinhardtii), native to New Guinea and eastern Australia. It was the first record of the species in Taiwan's inland waters. It was also the largest specimen known outside the species' native range.6
Claims.
- Origin. The researchers judge that the eel had probably been imported live from Australia and sold as an Indo-Pacific (mottled) eel, A. marmorata, a protected species in Taiwan. It was then released for religious reasons or escaped from an aquarium or a restaurant.6
- Markets. Two preserved longfin eels at National Taiwan University had been bought in 2003 at a market near the Shimen Reservoir, sold as mottled eels from the reservoir. The researchers also saw giant longfin eels sold as mottled eels "claimed to be caught from local rivers or reservoirs" at markets in Shuili and Rokan.6
Readings. The points below are this note's own.
- Spirit, commodity, specimen. Within six weeks, the same eel was a possible lake spirit, a commodity worth NT$40,000 and a scientific specimen. Each role drew a different response: an offering, a refused sale, then a donation.
- A name that hides an origin. Sold under the name of a protected native species, an imported eel passes as local. Compare the swamp eels declared as Anguilla bengalensis under Religious Release and Memorial Rites.
- Perth and Adelaide. In Perth, Adelaide and Taiwan alike, people linked unexpected eels to the live trade. In Perth and Taiwan, eels from eastern Australia turned up far from their range: across the continent in one case, overseas in the other. In Perth, ritual appears as a suspected cause of the eels' presence. At Sun Moon Lake, ritual also followed the catch, as an offering to the lake's gods. See Hyde Park, Perth (2023) and Port River, Adelaide (2018).
Questions.
- How many live Australian eels does Taiwan import, and under which names are they sold?
- Do other giant eels caught in Asian lakes receive offerings, and how do such rites shape what happens to the eel?
- Would the eel have lived longer if it had been returned to the lake at once?

Encounters in Other Notes

The accounts below appear in other notes, with their sources. Each line links to the full entry.

Eels on the tennis courts (Parkville, Melbourne). Anecdotes describe eels crossing the tennis courts of the old Vice-Chancellor's residence at the University of Melbourne after heavy rain. A Wurundjeri Elder calls eels in Melbourne's drains an urban legend but will not rule them out. Eels of Elizabeth Street in Melbourne
A spade in the dam mud (Gippsland, Victoria). In a 1950s childhood, Don Watson killed fat, metre-long eels with a spade when his family cleaned out its dam. His grandmother called eels "the real abomination". Settler Tastes
A banquet hall on Muddy Creek (Melbourne). William Barak told of the silver eel run turning Muddy (Koonung) Creek "into a banquet hall". Before and After 1835
Eels in a museum pond (Melbourne). About 12 short-finned eels have lived in Milarri Pond at Melbourne Museum for over ten years. Eels in the Present City
A friendly eel (Trove, 1928). A 1928 newspaper item titled "A Friendly Eel" appears among the clippings. Indigenous and Local Relations
Dead eels in a field (Fens, England). When a storm near Ely ended early, silver eels crossing a field died there. The farmer phoned to ask where they had come from. Climbing and Overland Movement
Eels climbing out to die (East Sussex, England). A Guardian piece asks why every fish in an East Sussex fishing lake died overnight, under the headline "The eels were climbing out of the water to die". Die-Offs, Harm and Damage
An eel in a well (Brantevik, Sweden). Legend tells of an eel that lived for 155 years in a well. Swedish households reportedly kept eels in wells to clean the water. Longevity
Freud's eels (Europe, nineteenth century). As a medical student, Sigmund Freud dissected hundreds of eels in a failed search for male sex organs. Keepers of Uncertainty
Pet murenae (Roman Italy). The orator Quintus Hortensius and the triumvir Crassus were said to have wept when their pet eels died. Murenae were adorned with jewellery and trained to come when called by name. Long View

References

Footnotes

Duffy, Rodney, Chris Bird, and Annique Harris. “Continued Invasion: New Detections of Non-Native Freshwater Fish in Wetlands of the Swan Coastal Plain, Western Australia, and Management Recommendations.” Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 100, no. 2 (2017): 27–31.˄
Morgan, David L., Howard S. Gill, Mark G. Maddern, and Stephen J. Beatty. “Distribution and Impacts of Introduced Freshwater Fishes in Western Australia.” New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research 38, no. 3 (2004): 511–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/00288330.2004.9517257.˄
Shiu, Henry, and Leah Stokes. “Buddhist Animal Release Practices: Historic, Environmental, Public Health and Economic Concerns.” Contemporary Buddhism 9, no. 2 (2008): 181–96. https://doi.org/10.1080/14639940802556529.˄
Everard, Mark, Adrian C. Pinder, Rajeev Raghavan, and Gaurav Kataria. “Are Well-Intended Buddhist Practices an under-Appreciated Threat to Global Aquatic Biodiversity?” Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems 29, no. 1 (2019): 136–41. https://doi.org/10.1002/aqc.2997.˄
Campbell, Tim, Bret Shaw, Evelyn Hammond, Luye Bao, Shiyu Yang, Peter Jurich, and Sara Fox. “Qualitative Interviews of Practitioners of Buddhist Life Release Rituals Residing in the United States: Implications for Reducing Invasion Risk.” Management of Biological Invasions 12, no. 1 (2021): 178–92. https://doi.org/10.3391/mbi.2021.12.1.12.˄
Chang, Shi-Tsang, Ming-Fong Yeh, Rung-Tsung Chen, Chi-Li Tsai, Kang-Ning Shen, and Chu-Fa Tsai. “A Giant Exotic Speckled Longfin Eel (Anguilla reinhardtii Steindachner, 1867) Captured from the Sun Moon Lake.” Endemic Species Research 10, no. 2 (2008): 59–64. https://doi.org/10.7064/ESR.200807.0059.˄

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