Hundreds of short-finned eels put on a wild, wiggly show on an Australian beach in the city of Warrnambool in Victoria ahead of a daunting migration journey.
WARRNAMBOOL, Victoria – It’s the “eel” deal.
Hundreds of short-finned eels put on a wild, wiggly show on an Australian beach in the city of Warrnambool in Victoria ahead of a daunting migration journey.
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Jaw-dropping video footage captured at the mouth of the Hopkins River near Moyjil and Point Ritchie showcases the natural spectacle.
Short-finned eels are unique creatures that mature in freshwater for decades, before venturing into the sea to spawn and die.
(Glenelg Hopkins CMA / Facebook)
From Warrnambool, which is situated on the south-western coast of Victoria, the short-finned eels migrate up the East Coast of Australia to the Coral Sea to spawn.
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For adult eels, it is not merely a simple journey to the Coral Sea, but the culmination of a lifetime’s effort to reach that destination.
Adult eels spend decades in freshwater habitats before migrating into the sea, before they meet a bittersweet ending.
Eel migration from Victoria to the Coral Sea.
(ARI)
According to a 2015 study by the Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, migrating eels can travel more than 1,800 miles over several months along Austalia’s coast to reach the Coral Sea.
As semelparous animals, short-finned eels spawn only once in their lifetime.
Once an adult eel reaches its spawning grounds in the Coral Sea, it reproduces in the open ocean—bringing a lifetime’s journey to its final act.
The short-finned eel dies shortly after spawning, but its offspring drift back toward freshwater, where the cycle of life begins once more.
