Eels : An Exploration, from New Zealand to the Sargasso, of the World's Most Mysterious Fish book cover
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Best for Eel Enthusiasts

Nature Writing & Wildlife

Eels : An Exploration, from New Zealand to the Sargasso, of the World's Most Mysterious Fish

by James Prosek

Famous for his deeply informed, compulsively readable books on trout, James Prosek (whom the New York Times has called "the Audubon of the fishing world") takes on nature's quirkiest and most enigmatic fish: the eel.


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About the book

Fans of Mark Kurlansky's Cod and The Big Oyster or Trevor Corson's The Secret Life of Lobsters will love Prosek's probing exploration of the hidden deep-water dwellers. With characteristically captivating prose and lavish illustrations, Prosek demystifies the eel's unique biology and bizarre mating routines, and illuminates the animal's varied roles in the folklore, cuisine, and commerce of a variety of cultures. As the New York Times Book Review notes: "Eels [is] more than a fish book. It is an impassioned defense of nature itself.... [Prosek] passes on the truth that the often disdained eel, like all migratory fish, is vital and mysterious and worthy of our full effort to bring it back." Peter Matthiessen calls it "A wonderful account of far-flung travels in pursuit of the secrets of the earth's most mysterious fish.... Fascinating and beautifully rendered."

Book details

Published by HarperCollins

Paperback ISBN: 9780060566128 11 Oct 2011