Why then do many Australians shrink in horror at the idea of a meal prepared from eel?
As the eel begins her final journey downstream, a number of strange changes begin to take place. Already her skin has begun to darken and thicken, and the fins and eyes have grown larger. As she moves towards the sea, irreversible changes occur: the anus constricts to reduce water loss and the stomach degenerates, freeing up vital resources for beefing up the reproductive organs. This would have been the time of year in pre-European Australian cultures when the local people would catch eels as they went about their migration – autumn was known as eel season and a time of plentiful food. There is vivid testament to these times at Lake Condah, in western Victoria, where the remains of stone fish traps perhaps 8000 years old indicate that the local people took advantage of the migration cycle of eels. They trapped them and then smoked them in the hollows of nearby trees for eating and trading. Although by the time the eels reach the sea they have already travelled hundreds of kilometres f
