Slippery Beast

September 16, 2024
Shell (A Child’s Place), a professor of science journalism at Boston University, delves into the international eel market with rigorous research and welcome humor in this beguiling account. Among other startling trivia, she notes that there are more than 800 varieties of eels, that they have survived for 200 million years and live in the waters of six continents, and that they comprise a $5 billion industry. Interviews with colorful industry figures including Sara Rademaker, who runs the only sustainable eel farm in the U.S., reveal more fascinating facts about the “slippery beasts.” For example, how eels navigate to their spawning sites remains a mystery, as does the most efficient method for breeding them in captivity. Other memorable sections feature a Maine fisherman known as the “Eel Godfather,” who spent time in prison for poaching, and shine a light on the worldwide illegal eel trade, which is led by Chinese smugglers and the yakuza, the latter of whom account for nearly 40% of all eel sales in Japan. Throughout, Shell balances her meticulous reporting with a sly appreciation for the absurdity of her subject and a novelist’s gift for characterization. Fans of Susan Orlean will love this. Agent: Michael Carlisle, InkWell Management.

June 15, 2024
An electric foray into the eel. Eels have puzzled scientists for ages and continue to today. To date, nobody has witnessed the creature reproduce; nor has anyone seen an eel egg or pregnant eel in the wild. "How is it that we can track Higgs bosons and black holes in outer space, program machines to think, cure cancer of various sorts, yet--despite our best efforts--not find a way to breed the American eel?" So asks Ruppel Shell, author of Cheap and The Job, executing an impressive deep dive into "the eel question." Stretching her research from centuries-old discoveries in natural science to contemporary advancements in aquaculture and trade, the author jumps among science, history, and economics in a way that dazzles with facts that occasionally overwhelm. Some readers will be frustrated to learn about the global market for eels before the fundamental details about their biology. Scientists now understand that Atlantic eels follow magnetic isolines to trek to the Sargasso Sea, where they spawn and die. Their eggs float back to the coast and grow into elvers (juvenile eels), which conclude their journey in freshwater lakes and streams. Because eels cannot reproduce in captivity, elvers have become a hot commodity for the booming eel industry in Asia (where eel is widely consumed). They are a necessary starting point for farms, which look to fishermen in places like rural Maine to catch and ship the goods. Elvers now sell for an extraordinary $2,000 per pound, and Ruppel Shell deftly explores the recent uptick in criminal activity and regulatory efforts that surround this slippery payload. By combining legal intrigue, a vision of untapped riches, and still-unsolved scientific mysteries, the author fashions a curious history that brims with wonderment. An unsuspectingly thrilling account of one of marine life's most enigmatic creatures.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

July 1, 2024
Professor and science journalist Ruppel Shell (The Job, 2018) mostly studies and writes about science as it relates to economic policy and social justice. But when she discovered that the pond near her house in rural Maine was full of eels, she overcame her initial distaste and became fascinated with a creature that is as mysterious as it is endangered. A large part of Maine's economy, young eels (glass eels and elvers) are netted and then exported to China to be raised in fish farms to market size--only to be shipped back to the U.S. (or Europe) for consumption, mostly as fancy sushi. As Japanese and European eels became commercially extinct, the value of baby American eels skyrocketed, and the author covers the illegal trade in these eels as well as the influence of organized crime. Shell follows the story of freshwater eels and their odd natural history all over the world, beginning and ending in Maine. She finishes her trek through all things eel with a profile of Maine's first successful commercial eel farm.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.