The European eel, Anguilla anguilla, is one of the strangest creatures nature ever created. Remarkably little is known about the eel, even today. What we do know is that it’s born as a tiny willow-leaf shaped larva in the Sargasso Sea and that its life cycle includes many metamorphoses, a four-thousand mile journey to Europe’s rivers and a return to its place of birth to breed and die.

And yet … There is still so much we don’t know about eels; no one can give a complete account of the eel’s metamorphoses or say why they are born and die in the Sargasso Sea.

This is the basis for Patrik Svensson’s unique natural science memoir; his ongoing fascination with this secretive fish, but also the equally perplexing and often murky relationship he shared with his father, whose only passion in life was fishing for this obscure creature.

Through the exploration of eels in literature as well as modern marine biology, we get to know this peculiar animal, and in this exploration, also learn about the human condition, life and death, through natural science and nature writing at its very best.