Short-finned Eels are embarking on their journey from Chinaman's Creek
Last week in Chinaman’s Creek at Capel Sound Foreshores, Rangers watched with amazement as the Short-finned Eels (Anguilla australis) left the creek for the ocean, heading on an incredible journey. The eels remarkably migrate 3,000km up the East coast of Australia, to the warmer waters of the Coral Sea to breed. This is the only spot where all Australian and New Zealand freshwater eels spawn.
They begin their lives in the Coral Sea as tiny, transparent larvae and are carried south by the ocean currents. Along the way they morph into ‘glass eels’, which are the shape of an eel but are still small and transparent. At this stage, they begin migrating into estuaries and creeks spreading along the Victorian coastline where they live out their lives.
They then become darker pigmented eels, as you can see in the video. Males mature at around 8-12 years of age, where as females do so at 10-20 years of age. It is at maturity that the eels begin to migrate to the Coral Sea as the Rangers witnessed. But first, they feed and grow significantly to fuel the long journey.
Their skin takes on a silvery appearance and their digestive system closes down, thus by the time they arrive, they are nearly a skeleton. They spawn and die and their young begin the cycle all over again. Isn’t nature truly amazing!