Hand netting (catching with nets) is the only legal way of catching eels in England. It has been done for thousands of years on the River Parrett and River Severn.
Most eels are predators. They hunt their prey.
True eels belong to the order (group) Anguilliformes (Latin for "eel-shaped").
This order has 4 suborders (smaller groups) called "Anguilloidei", "Nemichthyoidei", "Congroidei", and "Synaphobranchoidei".
The suborders are separated into 19 families. The families are divided into 110 genera. The genera are then divided into species.
There are 400 species of eels in all.
Freshwater eels ("unagi") and marine eels (Conger eel, "anago") are used in Japanese food. Eels are used in Cantonese (Hong Kong) food and Shanghai food.
Some people eat the European eel and other eels that live in lakes all around the world. A traditional London food is "jellied eels." The Spanish meal, "angulas", consists of deep-fried elvers.
Eel skins are used to make some wallets and purses.
Taxonomy based on Neslon, Grande and Wilson 2016.
In some classifications, the family Cyematidae of bobtail snipe eels is included in the Anguilliformes, but in the FishBase system that family is included in the order Saccopharyngiformes.
The electric eel of South America is not a true eel, but is a South American knifefish more closely related to the carps and catfishes.
Phylogeny based on Johnson et al. 2012.
Easter egg
An Easter egg is an egg, eaten and used for decoration during the Easter holidays. The egg was a symbol of the earth to celebrate spring. The oldest tradition is to use painted chicken eggs, but today chocolate eggs wrapped in coloured foil, hand-carved wooden eggs, or plastic eggs filled with confectionery such as chocolate is used. It was used by early Christians as a sign of the resurrection (rising from the dead) of Jesus.
The use of painted and decorated Easter eggs was first recorded in the 13th century. The church did not let people eat eggs during Holy Week, but chickens still laid eggs during that week. Because there was nothing else to do with the eggs, they were used for Easter decoration.
In modern times, chocolate eggs with a colorful wrapping are given to children to be eaten. In the United Kingdom, children receive on average 8.8 chocolate Easter eggs every year. It is unclear where this tradition comes from. Most likely, it comes from a pagan fertility ritual during spring. Sometimes on Easter, children go on egg hunts to look for Easter eggs. They can look for them indoors or outdoors.
An easter egg is also the name of something secret added in computer programs, such as a joke, a picture, or a message that can be uncovered.
Although there have been claims that Easter eggs came from the pagan symbols, there is no solid evidence for this. At the Passover, a hard-boiled egg dipped in salt water is a symbol of both new life and the Passover sacrifice offered at the Temple in Jerusalem. In Christian times, the egg was a symbol of new life just as a chick might hatch from the egg. The Easter egg tradition may have celebrated the end of the privations of Lent. In the Medieval Europe, people were not allowed to eat eggs on fast days. It was traditional to use up all of the eggs that they had before Lent began, and this also made the tradition of Pancake Day. Eggs were viewed as symbols of new life and fertility through the ages. It is believed that for this reason many ancient cultures, including the Ancient Egyptians, Persians, and Romans, used eggs during their spring festivals. In Eastern Christianity, both meat and dairy are still not allowed to be eaten during the fast, and eggs are seen as "dairy" too.
It was during Easter that everybody was trying to get rid of the eggs before the fast. Eggs were given as gifts for children and servants, and used for decoration. And this is probably the reason why eggs came to be associated with Easter.
Lemur
Lemurs are primates and prosimians (not monkeys). The word "lemur" comes from the Latin word "lemures", which means "ghosts". Lemur are divided into eight families, with 15 genera and about 100 living species. However, lemur classification is controversial: it depends on which species concept is used. "Lemur" is also a genus in one of the families.
Lemurs are native "only" to the island of Madagascar. From there a few species got to smaller islands nearby, for example the Comoros. Madagascar, like Africa and India, was part of the ancient southern continent of Gondwana.
Lemurs weigh from 30g to the 10kg. Larger species have all become extinct since human groups moved to Madagascar. Usually, the smaller lemurs are active at night (nocturnal), and the larger ones were active during the day (diurnal).
Lemurs are endangered species because people destroy their habitat and used to hunt them, and perhaps still do so.
Ring-tailed lemur, the most studied, are white and black with a ring tail The larger species are about 1.5 meters tall and weigh about 2 to 3.5 kilograms. They move quietly, usually at night, sometimes letting out eerie wailing cries, which some people think is the reason why they got their names.
Lemurs mostly eat fruit, leaves, and other plant parts. They live in family groups of 5 to 42 members which is called a troop. Females are dominant and remain in the same troop for life. Males move between troops. The female's gestation period lasts four to five months, and they usually have one or two babies. Lemur mothers nurse their babies until they are about four months old. Then they begin to feed the babies solid food such as fruit. Lemurs spend most of their time in the trees. Some are great leapers, flinging themselves from tree to tree.
Lemurs communicate with a variety of hoots. They will also send messages with scents (smells). When a male lemur wants to scare another male away, he first rubs its tail on the smelly glands under its arms and then waves the tail in the other male's face. These are called "stink fights".
Good Friday
Good Friday is a religious holiday usually observed by Christians. It is also called Holy Friday, Black Friday, or Great Friday. It is observed to remember the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, his death, and his rising from the dead. The holiday is often at the same time as the Jewish holiday of Passover.
The estimated year of Good Friday is AD 33, by two different groups, and at first as AD 34 by Isaac Newton by the differences between the Biblical and Julian calendars.
According to the Gospels, Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane by the Temple Guards. This was done through the help of his disciple Judas Iscariot. Judas received money (30 pieces of silver) () for betraying Jesus. He had told the guards that whomever he kisses was the one they were to arrest. Jesus was brought to the house of Annas. Annas was the father-in-law of the high priest at that time, Caiaphas. There he was questioned. However, it was with little result. Tied up, he was sent to Caiaphas the high priest, where the Sanhedrin had come together ().
Lots of people came and said conflicting things about Jesus to make him look bad. As he heard these, Jesus said nothing. At last, the high priest tells Jesus, "I adjure you, by the Living God, to tell us, are you the Anointed One, the Son of God?" Jesus said yes: "You have said it, and in time you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Almighty, coming on the clouds of Heaven." The high priest ripped his clothes, crying out that Jesus had blasphemed God. The trial ended with a sentence of death (). While they were questioning Jesus, Peter was waiting in the courtyard. He also said that he did not know Jesus three times to people standing by. According to the Bible, Jesus already knew that Peter would say this.