Rheotaxis by Julia Manning RE

As the young eels near completion of their 3500 mile odyssey, they undergo yet another metamorphosis, on

reaching the European continental shelf, they start to lose their willow-leafed shape and become much more the

shape of the animal we recognize in our rivers. They become glass eels. These transparent animals come into our

estuaries and bays in their millions, homing in on the smell and flow of freshwater. Their eyes and spine are clearly

discernable and they have an innate drive to move upstream. Around January and February time they are in

Bridgwater Bay waiting to move into freshwater.