Posted on October 30 2010
Artist and author James Prosek’s new book describes the biology and cultural history of one of the strangest fish, the eel. NPR’s Joe Palca interviewed Prosek this week and asked the obvious question: why would someone who’s spent their life fly fishing and painting trout want to write about eels?
Listen to the complete 25-minute podcast.
“Do you know about the sacred eels in New Zealand? And I said no. I didn’t know there were eels in New Zealand. Although, thinking back on it, I had heard rumors from trout fishermen fishing for introduced trout in New Zealand that occasionally they’d catch a four-, five-pound trout and this giant freshwater eel would come out from under a dark ledge and eat the fish because in New Zealand, their freshwater eels get very large.”
Eels: An Exploration, from New Zealand to the Sargasso, of the World’s Most Mysterious Fish