Eel (a).
‘To hold an eel by the tail’ | 2025, ink on paper, 28x78cm
Eel (Anguilla Anguilla)
The eel – a fascinating and mysterious creature, centre of mythological ponderings, and staple of medieval and early modern culinary culture. Sometimes conceived as a demon of the water due to their genderless form and penchant for slithering out of their aqueous element, this fish captured the imagination of many a famous figure, from Aristotle to Shakespeare, Aethelwold to Sigmund Freud.
My piece, ‘To hold an eel by the tail’, takes inspiration from a popular saying in early modern England meaning a pointless or foolish endeavour. It is a saying that arrives to us via the enduring metaphor arising from the eel’s slipperiness - due to their thick layer of external slime, a man who takes an eel by the tail is certain to feel the fish quickly slither from his grasp.
“He that holds a woman, has an Eele by the tayle”
Beaumont & Fletcher (1616) The Scornful Lady, Act II, Scene i.
The proverb appeals to everyday experience – as a dietary staple in England dating back to Roman invasion, if not further, the fishing, skinning, and preparation of eels was a universal practice. Rivers were rich with fish, arriving as glass eels in the Spring, tiny and see-through, with black dots for eyes. In the Autumn silver eels - now fully grown - could be caught migrating back to river mouths, heading for their birthplace in the Sargasso Sea. On this journey their digestive tracts dissolve, reforming into sex organs so the lifecycle can continue.
The echo of culinary cultures past lingers in East London’s taste for jellied eels. However, for the most part, our historical relationship with eels has been forgotten. Overfishing, climate change, and intrusion on habitat have meant a decline in eel population globally. In the last 40 years, the number of glass eels arriving in Europe from the Sargasso Sea has dropped by 95%. Worldwide, the Anguilla Anguilla has been categorised as ‘Critically Endangered’ on the ICUN Red List since 2008. One step away from ‘Extinct in the Wild’, this classification is especially perilous for eels as they cannot breed in captivity.
“We have forgotten our eel history.”
Greenlee (2020) Seeing all the Anguilles, 339.
‘To hold an eel by the tail’ aims to reflect the period in which this proverb was popularised, using a wooden dip pen and potted Indian ink to create fluid, marbled lines evocative of both water itself and the shape of eels as they move through their environment. It is intended to create the impression of motion, the eel captured in the act of quietly sliding from a failing clasp.
Upon viewing the drawing, I encourage you to reflect upon the historical and cultural importance of the humble eel, and the way in which, due to environmental changes and overfishing, they are currently slipping out of our grasp.
For the curious…
· Brueghel’s 1559 ‘The Flemish proverbs’ - a painting depicting a village scene in which individuals or groups reenact well-known sayings intended to warn against unsensible behaviour. The top right corner of the panel shows a man bending from a wooden platform, holding onto the tail of an eel as it swims from his hand into the open water.
· Patrik Svensson’s 2020 The Gospel of the Eels – half autobiography, half non-fiction, the Swedish author narrates how we came to our current scientific understanding of the eel alongside recounted memories of eel fishing with his father.
· The ZSL’s page on eel conservation (www.zsl.org/what-we-do/projects/european-eel-conservation) – detailing today’s most serious dangers to the continuation of eels as a species and the efforts currently being undertaken to reduce these threats.
Artist: Beth Lettington
Fish Profile
European Eel - Anguilla anguilla
Conger Eel - Conger conger
Conservation status
There are around 800 species of Eel. In the UK, the two most common are the European Eel and the Conger Eel.
The MCS advise avoiding these species as they both have ‘significant environmental concerns’. The ‘European eel is critically endangered. Even the farming of eels relies on catching juveniles from the wild and growing them in captivity, which adds pressure to wild populations’. Likewise Conger Eels ‘have very low resilience to fishing and spawn only once’.
The IUCN also place European Eels on the Critically Endangered list and Greenpeace have all Eels on their Red List. As Greenpeace state ‘overfishing has contributed to its severe decline in many regions. Some regulations are now in place to try to aid the recovery of Eels.‘