Do freshwater eels ever travel overland?
It depends on the species of eel. Some eels (and several other types of fish, like bettas) can breath air and survive out of water as long as they’re in a moist environment and do not dry out. Eels can also crawl along the ground like a snake if they need to, and can recognize bodies of water and crawl towards them. I once caught a big eel of some kind, dropped it when removing it from the hook, and it easily slithered along the shore and found its way back into the lake. So if you have a bunch of muddy puddles between large bodies of water and it’s nice and cool outside, they would have no problem working their way overland for short distances.
