Eels

The totem pole beside Water Ribbon Pond represents eels. Sometimes you can spot eels in the wetland ponds. Their time in these wetlands is spent eating and growing before they finish their amazing life.

Baby ‘glass eels’ are born in the Coral Sea, off the northeast coast of Queensland. They drift on currents with other plankton until they reach the coast of Australia as ‘elvers’. They swim up rivers and creeks and into ponds. Sometimes they even cross land. In these healthy wetlands, they grow to maturity before making the return journey to the deep water in the Coral Sea to breed.

The Awabakal people constructed special woven traps to catch eels to eat.

Eels, at all stages of their life, from very small elvers to really large adults, just about make their return journey have been found at HWCA which provides an important habitat for them.

We have seen large eels grab ducklings and other small birds for food.

We have also seen very large eels making their way across wet grass after rain, trying to re-enter the Canoe Channel to make their way out to sea.

Eels have been caught from the fishing platform on the canoe channel and they are seen regularly in BHP Pond, especially around the dip-net jetty.

Visitors often ask if they are electric eels but they are not. Electric eels some from South America, our eels are Native short or long finned eels.

Eels feed on insect larvae, worms and water snails. When they get bigger, they begin to feed on fish. They will also eat fresh-water crayfish and even small birds like ducklings. They live for an average of 15 - 20 years.

Eels are slimy which makes them hard to hang on to. The slime is a coating of mucus that protects them from diseases and predators and helps when wriggling through the grass at night going from one pond to the next.

Another amazing eel feature is their adaptation to hunting. Their eyes are on the tip of their snouts so even in dim water they can see what they’re biting, and they have an acute sense of smell.

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