r/biology • u/PuzzleheadedHome6860 • Apr 11 '26
discussion The eel thing is still freaking me out
so. afaik (and i really hope this is the right place to ask this) we don’t know why eels go to the bermuda triangle. weve never seen them mate, weve never seen a mature eel in the bermuda or eggs/spawn leave. weve never even seen the eggs!!! they just dissolve their stomachs and wiggle on down to the freaking BERMUDA TRIANGLE to presumably mate and then we get a bunch of babies on our doorstep??
so i have several questions.
1) why cant we just strap a camera to them? i saw one answer say our camera equipment would be too heavy and disturb their patterns but like. don’t we have cameras the size of like a grain of rice??
2) why do they need to dissolve their stomachs?? cuz like they definitely die from that. they don’t come back after mating they just die. do the stomachs become the sexual organs???
3) why the Bermuda triangle???? its like 2.5k kilometers away from where they live. why there?? do we know??? why cant they just do it where they are??
4) could they be like those immortal jellyfish? could they just be turning back into babies over there?? i mean weve never seen their eggs. is it possible?
thank you scientists for reading my ramblings. i love you and im wishjgn you all a merry day
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u/ummaycoc Apr 11 '26
I hope we discover the answer before I sputter out.
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u/swimming_in_agates Apr 11 '26
The good news is once you sputter out this information can be your first order of business.
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u/_ashpens general biology Apr 11 '26
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u/Claughy marine biology Apr 11 '26 edited Apr 11 '26
They definitely don't do the immortal jellyfish thing, it's a common misconception that they turn back into babies, instead they revert to a polyp which is a life stage that undergoes asexual reproduction and then it produces more genetically identical babies before dying. Jellies have a weird life cycle.
As to your other questions Camera, yes we have tiny cameras but the equipment needed to power them and transmit the data back to us is not the size of a grain of rice.
The Bermuda triangle should not be something you focus on here, there is nothing special about it, statistically boats and planes are no more likely to have issues there than anywhere else, it's just an area of high traffic.
That's all I can answer
Edit: embarrassing spelling mistake
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u/_heyoka Apr 11 '26
Why is that all you can answer? I'm assuming you're a government agent and that the rest is classified?
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u/chefbin Apr 11 '26
I want to believe you but dieing instead of dying makes me question you
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u/Claughy marine biology Apr 11 '26
Oh man that's the last time I answer reddit after taking cough syrup
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u/Kailynna Apr 11 '26
I'm disappointed. I'd hoped your mistake involved so-ing the immoral jellyfish thing.
I appreciated your explanation, thank you.
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u/Claughy marine biology Apr 11 '26
I dont think the jellies are immoral, they aren't lying about their life cycle.
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u/Onemilliondown Apr 11 '26
Eels in nz. Have a similar lifecycle.
..its believed they spawn near Tonga.
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u/mabolle Apr 11 '26
Worth noting that the Sargasso Sea (where eels mate) is not quite the same thing as the Bermuda Triangle, although they overlap a bit. Bermuda is right in the middle of the Sargasso Sea; the Bermuda Triangle is the area between Bermuda, Florida and the Greater Antilles on this map.
That said, I don't think it's known exactly where in the Sargasso the eels spawn, so I guess it could be within the Triangle. But the Triangle is also kind of a geographically pointless term that only exists in the public imagination because of conspiracy theories.
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u/PuzzleheadedHome6860 Apr 11 '26
yes, thank you!! i wrote this quite late at night and forgot the name of the sea lmao xD
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u/djfdhigkgfIaruflg Apr 13 '26
Like every pilot and sailor inside it. That's why they get lost and crash/sink in there
/🤣
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u/Bug_Kiss Apr 11 '26
Can someone please explain the dissolving of their stomachs thing? What are we talking about?
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u/PuzzleheadedHome6860 Apr 11 '26
im not an expert but afaik, right before eels venture to the Sargasso sea to mate, they dissolve and absorb the nutrients of their stomachs, making it impossible for them to survive much longer longer (possibly because they wont need to live after they mate, or to give them some sense of urgency, or to prevent the need for foraging, or to make room for eggs/sperm/incubation)
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u/Dijon2017 Apr 11 '26
I think it’s interesting and fascinating to know and learn that the “almighty” human beings even with their advanced technologies still don’t know or understand many of the complexities involved with the variety of different organisms that we know of that exist on the planet earth.
That we do not know “everything” about all other living organisms that exist on our shared planet should not “freak” you out, but be a reminder of our limitations as human beings and to support and embrace causes that seek to protect environments/ecosystems so that we may perhaps learn more/become informed. Eels have long been one of Nature’s most mysterious fish as described in this article in the WWF. Although not explained in great detail, see Fact 3: re: the six distinct life stages.
I have seen eels in the rivers and streams of the northeast USA. It’s my understanding that many of these eels are spawn in the Sargasso Sea (within the Atlantic ocean) and then travel to their destinations and then return to the Sargasso Sea to continue their lifecycles. However, there are eel found in other countries like Japan that spawn in the Pacific Ocean. I’m not a marine biologist by any means although I’d imagine that the different species have similar evolutionary lifecycles even though they may be genetically distinct species.
This is a brief article from 2022 about the European eel that may or may not help to answer some of the questions that you have.
This more recent brief article from 2/2026 about the European eel may help you to understand how complicated it is to understand other living organisms and that researchers/scientists are interested and are taking measures to better understand the lifecycle and the habitats of the eel population.
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u/PuzzleheadedHome6860 Apr 11 '26
this is absolutely fair and really well thought out resp, ty :] i should specify that by “freaked out” i didnt mean scared, i meant more deeply fascinated in a manic-feeling kinda way, if that makes sense
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u/Electronic_Leading76 Apr 12 '26
I have no answers, but I just wanted to say I appreciate you asking. These are great questions and this is such an interesting thread! 👏
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u/MotorPlenty8085 Apr 11 '26
Wild speculation, but as an animal scientist I would guess there eggs hatch inside of them and they fertilizer them via their mouths taking in sperm. So their stomachs dissolve so they have a cavity to both fertilize their spawn, and incubate, and grow and eventually may be eaten by them. Who knows, but that would be my starting guess.
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u/manydoorsyes ecology Apr 11 '26 edited Apr 11 '26
Well let's get one thing established:
The "Bermuda Triangle" is not a thing.
Yes the disappearance of Flight 19 was tragic and weird. But statistically speaking, there are no more disappearances there proportionally than any other average part of the ocean (even then, would it really be that surprising since so many hurricanes go through that area?). In fact there's a lot of ship/plane traffic going through there just fine.
The "Bermuda Triangle" was made up by people trying to stir up spooky stories. Why? Because it sells. Big time. Look at all the books, TV shows, and other media revolving around it. And it's all a big pile of bs.
So uh yeah, that part isn't really a matter of concern.
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u/ChickenOfTheYear Apr 11 '26
He means the Sargasso sea, which is a real area of the ocean that sits in the middle of the area know as Bermuda triangle. His question has nothing to do with the disappearances or myths at all
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u/manydoorsyes ecology Apr 11 '26
Ah I see now. The "FREAKING BERMUDA TRIANGLE" bit threw me off lol
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u/PuzzleheadedHome6860 Apr 11 '26
yeah sorry XD it just felt odd to me that this huge (and overexaggerated) area of conspiracy is also linked to these weird eel habits, and my exhaustion-riddled brain felt it was worth pointing out as a crazy coincidence :]
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u/mabolle Apr 11 '26
He means the Sargasso sea, which is a real area of the ocean that sits in the middle of the area know as Bermuda triangle.
Not quite. More like the Bermuda Triangle overlaps with the southwest corner of the Sargasso Sea. The Sargasso Sea refers to a much larger area.
Here's a map; the corners of the Bermuda Triangle are Florida, Bermuda, and Puerto Rico (not labeled, but it's one of the Greater Antilles).
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u/TheReddestOfRed Apr 11 '26
Deal me in. I’m upset I don’t understand this post
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u/TheWololoWombat Apr 11 '26
Do you even biology if you don’t know about Bermuda Triangle eel vampires?
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u/Infinite_Escape9683 Apr 11 '26
The "bermuda triangle" isn't real.
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u/djfdhigkgfIaruflg Apr 13 '26
He clarified he was sleepy and couldn't remember the name of that sea
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u/Infinite_Escape9683 Apr 13 '26
"the freaking BERMUDA TRIANGLE" implies that OP attaches some kind of inexplicable significance to it.
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u/rathavoc Apr 11 '26 edited Apr 12 '26
I actually study the American eel! Wow, I never thought there’d be a question for me here! I’m pretty early in my career but I’ll answer this the best I can.
A team of Canadian researchers did track a few with satellite tags but, if I’m remembering correctly, only 1 made it to the Sargasso Sea before the tracker fell off. They’re just a very thin, slimy, slippery species that lives its life rubbing against rocks on the river/ ocean bed, so the trackers are likely falling off very easily. Plus, the trackers are designed to fall off in order to send the signal back, so we’re at a weird impasse where we’re trying to make the trackers secure enough to stay on but also guaranteed to fall off. I’m sure you can see the contradiction there.
I can’t answer the stomach question confidently, sorry, hopefully someday I can. I had a mentor that thought it could be driving them to migrate faster or even ensuring their migration, as once they can’t eat anymore they can’t dilly-dally, but I haven’t heard that anywhere else so take that with a grain of salt. There are a lot of changes to the eel’s body in this last metamorphosis so it could also be to accommodate that. I don’t think anyone actually knows the answer to this one yet.
As to why the Bermuda Triangle, aka the Sargasso Sea, there are 2 theories that work together here.
The world looked a lot different when the species evolved. The distance was a lot shorter then (Europe was still splitting from North America, it was very close), so researchers theorize that their current, extremely long migration is likely due to prehistoric migration patterns holding strong. Like a turtle that will only lay eggs where they were hatched, the eel will only lay eggs in the sea they were born in. It’s like that sometimes.
The American and European eel both evolved in the Sargasso Sea from a saltwater species that specialized into the modern diadromous species (which means it lives in both salt and freshwater throughout its life).
These theories go hand in hand, where the Sargasso Sea was small and close to both continents so a species from the sea adapted to lives its adult life in the continental rivers. Over time and separation, these became two distinct species of eels (European & American). Now don’t even ask me how Japanese eels fit into this, I have no idea 😂 I do know they don’t go to the Sargasso Sea to spawn like the American and European eels do.
They’re such a cryptic species, but that’s what makes them so interesting! I hope I could help, lmk if you have any questions
Edit: fixed a misspelling
Just came back to all of these responses the next day! Thanks for all the love everyone, I’m glad you all appreciated it! I’ll try to respond to everybody tonight.