Ion eel

The **ion eel** was a highly unusual species of eel which inhabited several planets throughout the Galaxy, including Hoth. The species first evolved on the irradiated world of Ssen, where it, like all other Ssenite species, developed a hardy biology resistant to the harmful effects of ionizing radiation. The ion eel was, in its natural habitat, an apex predator which enjoyed a position at the top of the food chain. When the planet was discovered by nearby Anoatians, it attained a more cosmopolitan distribution, at least within the Anoat sector. In these non-radioactive environments, the ion eel adapted its natural radioresistant protections to offensive use and deployed ionizing radiation as a means of overwhelming native wildlife.

In 10 BBY, the Galactic Empire gassed the planet Anoat, where an ion eel specimen had been introduced and maintained at the Royal Anoatian Aquarium. The following year, during an annual survey of the planet, Imperial radiation zone assault troopers discovered the specimen, the only surviving aquatic life, and retrieved it for scientific examination. The eel was transported to a research center of the Imperial Biological Weapons Division, where Director Dr. August Rust investigated the species' radioactivity for potential application to bioweapons research. Although the weaponization of the eel proved ineffective, the eel's cellular mechanisms responsible for its remarkable resilience to radiation were utilized in a genetic enhancement for the Radtrooper Corps.

## Biology and appearance

The ion eel was an aquatic creature, fishlike in nature, which maintained an elongated, serpentine body of greenish to greenish-blue coloration. The species grew to a mature length of over 2 meters (6.5 feet) with some larger specimens in the range of 2.5 meters (8.2 feet). Individuals of the species averaged 20-25 kilograms (44-55 lbs). A dorsal fin was situated on its back and ran for most of its length, terminating just before its unique caudal or tail fin. The tail fin consisted of a translucent membrane which formed two "flaps" at its rear, which aided in locomotion. Additionally, the species possessed three sets of external gills which were positioned to the immediate rear of the head. The ion eel possessed a wide, robust head with blue eyes and teeth adapted to carnivorous predation.

At the microscopic level, the ion eel, like all Ssenite life-forms, was composed of highly radioresistant cells which retained multiple copies of its genetic code in each cell nucleus. Automated organelles continually surveyed its genes for damage and employed highly efficient, perpetual repair proteins to restore any reparable damage to its original form. Other organelles in its cellular arsenal isolated irreparable fragments to a waste area for disposal.

Physiologically, the ion eel maintained all organs conventionally found in aquatic wildlife. Uniquely, when the ion eel was transplanted onto planets devoid of intense radioactivity, it developed, over millennia, a radioactive organ which was capable of emitting ionizing radiation at levels hazardous to other organisms. This organ, very much unlike other species, was composed of extraordinary cellular units called radiocytes.

## Behavior

Little was known of the ion eel's strange and largely unseen life cycle. The species was known to make difficult yearly migrations to chosen breeding grounds on each planet to which it was introduced. The breeding grounds ultimately selected by the species were characterized by extreme depth, calm and warm waters, and high salinity. Eel larvae hatched from the breeding grounds and drifted for weeks or months to more distant locales, maturing in the process and resulting in worldwide oceanic distribution of the ion eel on any planet it inhabited. As an elver or juvenile eel, the creature fed constantly to support its growth and development. When it reached full maturity, it returned yearly to the breeding grounds whence it came and mated with other specimens to propagate.

Ion eels were carnivorous and fed predominantly on smaller aquatic fauna. On its homeworld, the Ssen sludge trout and other pisciform creatures comprised the bulk of the eel's diet. With some frequency, especially when marine food sources ran dry, the eel lept out of the ocean and migrated to shore to hunt terrestrial creatures, such as the Ssen plutobeetle and other arthropods. The species was primarily nocturnal and lived solitarily, rarely hunting in packs or forming aggregates of any kind. However, aggregates did form occasionally for the sole purpose of defending their status as apex predators; swarms sometimes formed to attack competing predators with some amount of ferocity and vigor. When a competing predator was dispatched, the eels would return to fighting amongst themselves for the spoils of victory.

When transplanted on worlds such as Hoth, the ion eel developed a radiogenerative ability, which it used to great success on creatures with no biological history of radioactivity. In such cases, the eel readied itself by activating its specialized organ, which emitted a green bioluminescent "glow." The resulting emissions were rather inaccurate; radiation was simply emitted in all directions from its place of origin, potentially affecting all organisms within a given radius. This rendered the eel a far more dangerous predator on foreign worlds and an invasive species.

## History

### Evolution and discovery

Ion eels originally evolved and inhabited the irradiated planet of Ssen, a remote world in the Anoat sector which harbored a thriving biosphere devoid of any native sapient life. Nearly continuous radiation pounded the surface of Ssen, which both promoted and inhibited evolutionary development at various junctures of its planetary history. Nevertheless, all indigenous life forms possessed a robust cellular structure shielding its genetic code from harm. Some were able to feed on radiation in a process known as radiosynthesis. Others, like the ion eel, relied on predation, and rose to enjoy a competitive position at the top of the Ssenite food chain. It remained in this position for many millions of years.

When Ssen was discovered by Anoatian explorers thousands of years before the Battle of Yavin, several specimens of the native wildlife—including the ion eel—were captured and transported to their urbanized homeworld for scientific examination. There, Anoatian biologists, donning protective gear, noted the remarkable radioactivity of the creature and maintained a particularly impressive specimen in the Anoatian Royal Aquarium. Other specimens were recovered from the surface of Ssen at various times and introduced—deliberately or inadvertently—throughout the Anoat sector. The species thereby attained distribution in such worlds as Hoth, a snowy planet with substantial ocean coverage, and Kotsovo, a thickly glaciated world harboring a subsurface ocean. In these non-radioactive environments, the ion eel utilized its competitive edge and developed mechanisms to deploy radiation against vulnerable native fauna.

### Discovery by the Empire

Around 10 BBY, the Galactic Empire gassed Anoat as part of a campaign to locate and eliminate a rebel cell on the planet. The Empire deployed highly toxic chemical agents into the atmosphere of Anoat and utilized radiation cannons to exacerbate its effects. The result was a poisoned, dying world with a chronically diseased population. Thereafter, annual surveys of the world were conducted by the Empire through Radiation zone assault troopers or "Radtroopers," specialized units equipped with impermeable armor designed to insulate the wearer from ambient toxicity. During the Empire's first post-gassing survey of Anoat, radtroopers uncovered the ion eel specimen—which had remained healthy but suffered from a lack of adequate food supply—from the Royal Aquarium and reported the same to Imperial authorities.

The Imperial officer then at command of the survey, Captain Zekaria Valant of the *Imperial I*-class Star Destroyer *Electrifier*, notified his superiors of the exotic biological find. The specimen was taken offworld to a zoological holding facility of the Imperial Biological Weapons Division in a research center orbiting planet Coyerti. Captain Valant relinquished custody of the ion eel specimen to the officer in charge of the Biological Weapons Division, then Director Dr. August Rust. The intention of Dr. Rust was to identify and isolate the genetic mechanisms responsible for, firstly, the ion eel's strange ability to withstand intense bouts of radioactivity, but, more importantly, its ability to inflict ionizing radiation on hostile organisms. Dr. Rust sought to weaponize his ion eel research for potential development of a bioweapon involving the offensive use of radioactivity.

### Imperial experimentation and abandonment

Dr. Rust's experiments lasted several months and involved multiple excursions to Ssen, which had been quickly identified as the origin of the creature. At Ssen, Dr. Rust obtained a number of other radioactive creatures of varying kinds, but none proved as resilient and efficient as the eel. During these research expeditions, further ion eels were captured and brought to the Imperial zoological facility.

Ultimately, Dr. Rust's experiments were a failure, and he was unable to weaponize ionizing radiation as effectively as the eel itself on a microscopic level. Radiation cannons, employing inorganic means of emitting ionizing radiation, remained the most realistic method of achieving the effect.

Nevertheless, Dr. Rust succeeded in his second intention—namely, to isolate the genetic source of the eel's resistance to harmful doses of radiation. The research then left Dr. Rust's division and was adapted for use, fittingly, by the Radtrooper Corps, which were originally responsible for its discovery. Dr. Rust's research enabled development of a genetic enhancement that heightened radiation resistance on a cellular level.

### Encounter on Hoth

By the year 3 ABY, the Rebel Alliance had established a clandestine base of operations on Hoth. The world was selected for its remote whereabouts and inhospitable climate, which discouraged potential visitors in the form of the Empire. Among the Rebels stationed at the base was Rogue Leader and fledgling Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker.

Rebel forces had long been uneasy with the native wildlife of Hoth. Skywalker had already found himself in close encounter with a wampa, a great, white, abominable beast of the frozen wasteland, and several other individuals had likewise faced wampas and other fearsome predators. Skywalker therefore remained armed when he found occasion to venture into the white-carpeted wilderness of the planet.

On one such occasion, Skywalker wandered into one of Hoth's many littoral zones, where ice gave way to liquid water. Sensing the presence of what they took to be a competing predator, a school of ion eels came upon him and overtook the Jedi Knight, blasting him with lethal doses of ionizing radiation. Skywalker, who was naturally gifted in use of the Force, was able to shield himself and dissipate the radiation into his surroundings. He then sliced through his serpentine assailants, erasing the threat and allowing him to proceed.

## Ion eels in the galaxy

Ion eels were native to the irradiated planet of Ssen, a remote world in the Anoat sector which harbored a thriving biosphere without any sapient life. From there, Anoatians transplated ion eels to many other nearby worlds, including the snowy world of Hoth and the glaciated planet of Kotsovo.

## Behind the scenes

The ion eel is a fanonized backstory to a minor adversary in the 1993 video game *Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back*. In their original appearance, ion eels are dangerous fauna of Hoth which produce a glowing green aura and inflict damage on the player. Operating on the assumption that the ion eel's name and green aura refer to ionizing radiation, the backstory was constructed to accentuate the creature's radioactivity. The eel's resistance and use of such energy was based on the real-life extremophilic bacteria *Deinococcus radiodurans*.

## Appearances

* *Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back*

## Sources

* *The Essential Guide to Galactic Fauna*

## Notes and references

1. ↑ Gronstal, Aaron. Life in the Extreme: Radiation. NASA. Feb. 10, 2023.