alone, and, really, I’ve always thought of them as small fry, not nearly as organized as some. You heard about the report of high-powered weapons fire at a shooting range near Mullingar?” It was a Midlands city about forty miles distant.
McGarr nodded, having read the report that later appeared in newspapers. When the local police arrived, they found whoever it was gone but the ground littered with a mass of shells fired from a Kalashnikov rifle. Could it have been a Kalashnikov that had been used to destroy his Cooper the day before, he wondered.
“What’s an elver?” Maddie asked from the back.
Gannon turned his head to her. “A baby eel. Do you know about eels, Maddie?”
She made a face. “I don’t think I want to. They’re slimy, aren’t they?”
“Well—the slime is actually a very important slime. It’s a mucous membrane that protects their tender skin and allows them to wriggle and squiggle after food and find shelter in rocks.”
“Do people actually eat them?”
“Any way they can—fresh, smoked, barbecued, and even jellied. In many countries, smoked eel commands a much higher price than premium-grade smoked wild salmon.”
“Now salmon I like,” said Maddie.
“O’Leary even likes to roll on them, but only when they’re dead.”
“Ooof.” Maddie tried to push the dog away, but it wouldn’t budge.
Gannon and McGarr both chuckled.
“Now, don’t knock what you haven’t tried.” A pleasant man, Gannon winked so only McGarr could see. “I bet you didn’t think you’d like salmon, when you first tried it. And consider this—the elvers that arrive here to Ireland are some of the bravest and hardiest creatures on earth. Haven’t they swum all the way from the Sargasso Sea without eating once?”
“Where’s that?”
“Way down by Bermuda, off the coast of America. On their way, dozens of species of predaceous fish take their toll, and then—here in the river they’ve got to get over fish ladders at dams and past legal fishermen and poachers, like I was just telling your dad.
“But they don’t begin to eat—not so much as a single zooplankton—until they’ve spent twenty-four hours in fresh water. And then they’ll only eat what they’ve first tasted, which makes a Shannon River eel taste different from, say, a Lee River eel.”
“You mean, eels from each river have their own distinctive taste?” McGarr asked, not having known that.
“That’s right. And something else that’s unique to eels—opposite of salmon, shad, sea trout, and sea bass, they’re the only fish that breeds in salt water but lives in fresh. It’s called being catadromous.”
There was a pause as the three thought about what had been said.
Finally, Maddie asked, “How far is the Sargasso Sea?”
“It’s a big still spot in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean about three or four thousand miles from here.”
“And they come all the way from there on no food?”
“And no parents to guide them, either. Their digestive systems are devised for freshwater eating only, so they can’t feed until they find the river that their parents lived in. Which is why they’re called glass or silver eels. If you catch one when it first enters the river and hold it up against the light, you can see right through its body and the tube of its digestive system, which is empty.”
“What happened to their parents?”
“Ah, now—there’s the sad part of the tale. After spending up to fourteen years in a freshwater river orlake, adult eels reverse-commute, so to speak, to the Sargasso Sea again on no food. There they spawn and die, the cycle of their lives being over.”
“But how do the elvers know which way to swim to get here?”
Gannon hunched his broad shoulders. “Nobody knows for sure. It’s one of the great mysteries of nature. They’re only five or six inches long with a brain the size of a grain of sand, and yet they get here, year after year. Or, at least, we hope they’ll continue
McGarr nodded, having read the report that later appeared in newspapers. When the local police arrived, they found whoever it was gone but the ground littered with a mass of shells fired from a Kalashnikov rifle. Could it have been a Kalashnikov that had been used to destroy his Cooper the day before, he wondered.
“What’s an elver?” Maddie asked from the back.
Gannon turned his head to her. “A baby eel. Do you know about eels, Maddie?”
She made a face. “I don’t think I want to. They’re slimy, aren’t they?”
“Well—the slime is actually a very important slime. It’s a mucous membrane that protects their tender skin and allows them to wriggle and squiggle after food and find shelter in rocks.”
“Do people actually eat them?”
“Any way they can—fresh, smoked, barbecued, and even jellied. In many countries, smoked eel commands a much higher price than premium-grade smoked wild salmon.”
“Now salmon I like,” said Maddie.
“O’Leary even likes to roll on them, but only when they’re dead.”
“Ooof.” Maddie tried to push the dog away, but it wouldn’t budge.
Gannon and McGarr both chuckled.
“Now, don’t knock what you haven’t tried.” A pleasant man, Gannon winked so only McGarr could see. “I bet you didn’t think you’d like salmon, when you first tried it. And consider this—the elvers that arrive here to Ireland are some of the bravest and hardiest creatures on earth. Haven’t they swum all the way from the Sargasso Sea without eating once?”
“Where’s that?”
“Way down by Bermuda, off the coast of America. On their way, dozens of species of predaceous fish take their toll, and then—here in the river they’ve got to get over fish ladders at dams and past legal fishermen and poachers, like I was just telling your dad.
“But they don’t begin to eat—not so much as a single zooplankton—until they’ve spent twenty-four hours in fresh water. And then they’ll only eat what they’ve first tasted, which makes a Shannon River eel taste different from, say, a Lee River eel.”
“You mean, eels from each river have their own distinctive taste?” McGarr asked, not having known that.
“That’s right. And something else that’s unique to eels—opposite of salmon, shad, sea trout, and sea bass, they’re the only fish that breeds in salt water but lives in fresh. It’s called being catadromous.”
There was a pause as the three thought about what had been said.
Finally, Maddie asked, “How far is the Sargasso Sea?”
“It’s a big still spot in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean about three or four thousand miles from here.”
“And they come all the way from there on no food?”
“And no parents to guide them, either. Their digestive systems are devised for freshwater eating only, so they can’t feed until they find the river that their parents lived in. Which is why they’re called glass or silver eels. If you catch one when it first enters the river and hold it up against the light, you can see right through its body and the tube of its digestive system, which is empty.”
“What happened to their parents?”
“Ah, now—there’s the sad part of the tale. After spending up to fourteen years in a freshwater river orlake, adult eels reverse-commute, so to speak, to the Sargasso Sea again on no food. There they spawn and die, the cycle of their lives being over.”
“But how do the elvers know which way to swim to get here?”
Gannon hunched his broad shoulders. “Nobody knows for sure. It’s one of the great mysteries of nature. They’re only five or six inches long with a brain the size of a grain of sand, and yet they get here, year after year. Or, at least, we hope they’ll continue
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