Their offspring then begin this cycle anew. At least 14 other species of this fish occur elsewhere in the world. American eels range from Greenland to northern South America. In Canada and the U.S., they may travel 1,000 miles or more up tributaries that flow into the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. Eels scale dams, wriggle through aqueducts and navigate subterranean streams to reach their destinations.
Eels constitute one of a few fish species known as troglophiles that can live in underwater caves.
My curiosity about eels developed in the 1970s when I began noticing them in the caverns of our state's freshwater springs. Generally, eels and yellow bullheads are the fish most often seen by divers in the dark zones of submerged labyrinths. These strange-looking fish often peer at you as you silently fin your way through serpentine passages and massive rooms of limestone. Eels often lurk in crevices and fissures on the floors, ceilings and walls, waiting until dark before they emerge and eerily undulate toward cave mouths. On my hundreds of dives into springs and sinkholes, I've never had any unpleasant encounters with them, except when they careened off my faceplate.