WEBVTT - Eels Alive! 0:00:01.480 --> 0:00:11.319 Welcome to Stuff you should know, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey, 0:00:11.360 --> 0:00:13.720 and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh, and there's Chuck 0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:16.240 and Jerry's here too, and this is stuff you should 0:00:16.280 --> 0:00:18.000 know about Eel. 0:00:19.840 --> 0:00:23.720 I know another podcast that has ruined something I like 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:24.160 to eat. 0:00:24.239 --> 0:00:28.480 But now I can what did it ruin? Or why? How? What? What? Part? 0:00:28.680 --> 0:00:30.480 How about this? When we get to the part where 0:00:30.480 --> 0:00:34.040 you're like, this ruined eel for me, shout scream at 0:00:34.040 --> 0:00:39.360 the top of your lungs. Okay, okay. I want to 0:00:39.360 --> 0:00:43.159 give a hat tip to David Byrne via you Me 0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:46.040 who inspired this episode. 0:00:45.880 --> 0:00:46.600 David Byrne. 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:49.560 Yeah, d David Byrne you me. He was watching David 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:51.919 Byrne videos. He's on tour and I think she's going 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:52.400 to see him. 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:53.160 Yeah, it's great show. 0:00:53.920 --> 0:00:54.560 Have you seen it? 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:56.160 Oh yeah, I've seen the last couple of tours. 0:00:56.200 --> 0:01:00.640 It's it's great, awesome. So he apparently he was talking 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:03.080 about a book he was reading about Eels and how 0:01:03.120 --> 0:01:06.640 fascinating it was. So that kicked off the idea for 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:07.959 an episode on Eels. 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:10.360 Yeah. I went to read a new book. 0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:14.400 I just finished my book, Cameron Crowe's Memoir, which is fantastic, 0:01:14.880 --> 0:01:17.440 I'm sure. And by the way, I commented on his 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:19.039 Instagram about what a great book it. 0:01:19.040 --> 0:01:20.920 Was, and he started following me. 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:22.160 No. 0:01:22.480 --> 0:01:25.280 Yeah, and I got to think that it was either 0:01:25.319 --> 0:01:28.280 an accident or maybe he listens to stuff you should know. 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:30.120 I don't see why he would randomly just be like, 0:01:30.720 --> 0:01:34.000 I'll follow anyone who says they like my book, right, So, 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:36.560 I don't know, Cameron Crow, if you're listening, it's pretty 0:01:36.560 --> 0:01:37.600 exciting for us. 0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:39.880 Yeah, what uh great book. 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:42.720 Though his memoir is just it's almost too incredible to 0:01:42.959 --> 0:01:44.920 believe that that happened to him in his life. 0:01:45.520 --> 0:01:47.480 Is it called recounting Crow? Uh? 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:51.920 Oh boy, No, it's called the Uncool But man, he 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:53.400 really missed an opportunity there. 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:57.360 Yeah. I think more he dodged a bullet. 0:01:57.320 --> 0:01:59.520 Probably so. But I went to read a new book, 0:02:00.280 --> 0:02:01.680 Talking Heads. It was. 0:02:02.080 --> 0:02:03.840 I had two books in my hand, the Talking Heads 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:09.480 book and Abel Ferrara's memoir The Filmmaker, and I went 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:13.000 with the Abel ferrar just because Bonnie Prince Billy recommended 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:13.799 it and it's shorter. 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:17.000 But Talking Heads is up next. That's it. 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:21.320 I just watched Bad Lieutenant all the way through for 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:22.960 the first time. Oh, This is a. 0:02:22.919 --> 0:02:24.760 Good movie, buddy, what a film. 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:27.120 I've got King of New York next. 0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:30.079 So are you on a kick now for him a 0:02:30.120 --> 0:02:30.440 little bit? 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:30.720 Yeah? 0:02:30.720 --> 0:02:33.320 Where'd that come from? Bonnie Prince Billy? 0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:38.600 Yeah, No, I don't remember. I think I just ran 0:02:38.639 --> 0:02:40.880 across Bad Lieutenant. And I've known about it since I 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:43.400 was a teenager and it's never really watched it. 0:02:43.639 --> 0:02:45.120 Oh have you ever seen King of New York? 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:45.919 No? 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:48.040 Oh, dude, it's so good. 0:02:48.639 --> 0:02:49.639 Oh good, I can't wait. 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:49.880 Yeah. 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:53.000 I mean he's one of my favorite filmmakers. 0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:56.400 Great. Yeah, Apparently there's lots of rumors that Harvey Kitel 0:02:56.440 --> 0:02:58.600 actually was on all the drugs he was supposed to 0:02:58.639 --> 0:02:59.960 be on on Bad Lieutenant. 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:01.560 I'll let you know when I get to that chapter. 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:06.280 And I saw someone say, like, no, he actually wasn't 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:09.200 he's just that good of an actor. But that Abel 0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:11.560 Ferrara and the rest of the crew probably were on 0:03:11.680 --> 0:03:13.639 all those same drugs while they were shooting it. 0:03:13.919 --> 0:03:16.799 I know he was pretty into drugs. So I've only 0:03:16.800 --> 0:03:19.080 a couple of chapters in so far, but it's really good. 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:23.000 Okay, Well, when you get to the chapter called drugs, Colon, 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:24.519 I love them. 0:03:25.520 --> 0:03:28.639 Let me know, all right, all that to say is 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:32.640 that we're talking about eels, and we'll get right into it. 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:34.560 If you're an eel, if you want to claim to 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:37.440 be an eel, you got to have certain qualifications. You 0:03:37.480 --> 0:03:39.680 can't just be like a sea snake or an electric eel, 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:42.120 which isn't an eel by the way. You have to 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:48.480 be a member of the order Anguilliforms or Anguilliformis. Twenty 0:03:48.520 --> 0:03:50.920 families of eels, one hundred and eleven gen era, more than 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:54.720 eight hundred species, ranging from just about four inches to 0:03:55.560 --> 0:03:58.840 those big old morey eels sometimes up to twelve feet. 0:03:59.440 --> 0:04:02.440 Yeah, twelve foot long eel. That's just amazing. 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:03.320 Yeah. 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:05.600 The one thing that they all have in common is 0:04:05.680 --> 0:04:09.240 that they have long bodies that are typically worm like. 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:16.160 They don't have pelvic fins, right, so, yeah, the ones 0:04:16.240 --> 0:04:20.799 that you would have developed head you descended from water hippos. 0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:24.880 That's whales. A lot of them don't have pectoral fins. 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:27.640 Some of them do have the dorsal fin on the back. 0:04:28.120 --> 0:04:31.159 But essentially they're just like worms or snakes, like slithering 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:34.160 through the water, and that actually is exactly what they're doing. 0:04:34.240 --> 0:04:36.720 They're slithering in a wave like motion. That's how they 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:39.520 make their way because again, they don't really have fins. 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:42.680 This to me is one of the facts of the podcast. 0:04:43.040 --> 0:04:44.200 Do you know what I'm talking about? 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:45.000 Yeah? Take it though. 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:51.320 So eels can swim backward just by changing the direction 0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:56.440 of the wave. Yes, they make a beeping sound when 0:04:56.480 --> 0:04:56.680 they do. 0:04:57.720 --> 0:05:00.479 Oh man, that's amazing. I mean they got to let 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:02.880 everyone know. It's like I can't I can't see where 0:05:02.880 --> 0:05:05.279 I'm going. Everyone eel coming through. 0:05:06.000 --> 0:05:08.520 Yeah. Also, I just want to take a second for 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:11.559 a ps A. If you drive a truck that makes 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:16.880 a beeping sound when it backs up, never ever just 0:05:17.000 --> 0:05:21.440 sit there idling with your reverse gear and reverse. People 0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:24.640 are allowed to do that. Yes, you mean I used 0:05:24.680 --> 0:05:27.479 to live next to it was like a nursing home, 0:05:27.520 --> 0:05:30.120 I guess, and they like we lived on the side 0:05:30.200 --> 0:05:35.360 of their like delivery area, and dudes would just do that, 0:05:35.480 --> 0:05:39.520 just sit there with with their truck and reverse not moving. Yeah, 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:40.599 at like six in the morning. 0:05:41.839 --> 0:05:45.600 No, all right, I agree. Eels had that smooth, slippery 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:48.839 skin and it is coated in a slime. It's a 0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:51.360 protective slime. It helps them with they're swimming. It makes 0:05:51.360 --> 0:05:55.080 them very streamlined, and it also helps regulate how much 0:05:55.120 --> 0:05:58.320 water is in their bodies, which is pretty unusual. And 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:02.000 they're predatory, like they're eating other fish basically while they're 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:03.360 down there. Yea. 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:06.160 What something else that's very neat about eels is that 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:08.520 they don't like they're not boring little baby eels and 0:06:08.560 --> 0:06:11.000 then they grow up into big twelve foot long, two 0:06:11.080 --> 0:06:14.800 hundred and fifty pound eels. They actually go through stages 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:18.360 of metamorphosis like the butterfly does. Yeah, Like they don't 0:06:18.360 --> 0:06:21.800 look anything like an eel when they're born, and as 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:26.640 they grow they actually change shape and color in addition 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:31.400 to size. They also very frequently will move from like 0:06:31.520 --> 0:06:35.880 the ocean to freshwater creeks far inland. Like, there's a 0:06:35.920 --> 0:06:38.120 lot of great stuff that eels do that we just 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:41.159 had overlooked for a very long time. 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:43.760 Yeah, I mean there's some fun, really fun stuff coming. 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:47.760 They're basically solitary. I think there's a couple that we'll 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:50.720 talk about later that hang out in the hundreds or thousands, 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:53.880 but generally, yeah, like, if you're an eel of size, 0:06:54.440 --> 0:06:56.920 you're gonna be swimming around by yourself, backing up by yourself, 0:06:57.360 --> 0:07:01.560 beeping by yourself. They migrate, and you know, we'll talk 0:07:01.680 --> 0:07:03.680 more about how they spawn later, because it was a 0:07:03.680 --> 0:07:05.040 bit of a mystery for a long long. 0:07:04.920 --> 0:07:06.520 Time and still kind of is in some ways. 0:07:07.160 --> 0:07:09.440 Yeah, but they do migrate to a spawning area, and 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:13.480 they think they use the urtht magnetic fields. They use 0:07:13.760 --> 0:07:16.000 magnetite in their bodies to navigate. 0:07:16.920 --> 0:07:19.560 Yeah, and they're not the only animals that do, so 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:22.160 we don't know for a fact. We just know that 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:25.000 there is magnetite in their heads and that that is 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:29.080 probably what's going on because it's so spectacular the migrations 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:33.080 that they go. That's essentially the only explanation we have 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:33.640 on hand. 0:07:33.960 --> 0:07:34.440 That's right. 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:38.880 If they are in tropical areas, warmer waters, where they 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:42.160 get migrate to spawn is probably nearish. But if they're 0:07:42.200 --> 0:07:44.600 in the colder areas, it seems like they migrate to 0:07:44.640 --> 0:07:46.360 the warmer areas to spawn, so they may have to 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:46.960 go a long way. 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:49.960 Yeah, it's like how people in the Caribbean they don't 0:07:50.000 --> 0:07:52.960 go on vacation because they live on vacation. That's right. 0:07:54.400 --> 0:07:57.080 And like you said, electric eels aren't eels, and there's 0:07:57.120 --> 0:07:59.239 really not a whole lot else to say about electric 0:07:59.320 --> 0:07:59.960 eels really. 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:03.040 No, they're knife fish. They're closer to a catfish than 0:08:03.080 --> 0:08:03.480 an eel. 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:08.760 Sure, so forget those guys pretty much. 0:08:09.720 --> 0:08:12.240 We really looked too. We're like electric kills. We got 0:08:12.280 --> 0:08:14.600 to find out even though they're not eels, they've got 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:18.520 to be kind of interesting. Not really, so sorry everybody. 0:08:18.920 --> 0:08:21.080 Yeah, but what is interesting is the more a eel. 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:24.680 This is the sort of the most famous of the 0:08:25.400 --> 0:08:29.400 ocean dwelling eels, the saltwater eels, member of the family 0:08:30.040 --> 0:08:34.240 Muraneda fifteen genera. There two hundred species makes up about 0:08:34.280 --> 0:08:37.080 twenty five percent of all the eels, and they live 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:40.199 like you know, if you've ever been snorkeling or scuba diving, 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:42.800 you probably haven't seen one during the day. But if 0:08:42.840 --> 0:08:44.679 you've ever gone and put your face in a heidi 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:47.640 hole in that coral, maybe you could see one because 0:08:47.679 --> 0:08:49.559 that's where they like to hide. 0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:52.600 Yes, be careful though, because they probably will buy you 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:54.480 if you stick your face in their heidi hole. 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:55.080 Yeah. 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:57.000 I did that a little bit in Belize. I was 0:08:57.559 --> 0:09:01.840 asked to snorkel fishing guys with this. There were spearfishing 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:03.800 and stuff, and I was like, like with spear guns. 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:05.680 I was like, can you teach me? They're like, come on, 0:09:05.880 --> 0:09:08.319 just follow along. And then you know, he told me 0:09:08.480 --> 0:09:09.920 dive down there and put your face in that hole 0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:10.760 and tell me what he saw. 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:13.080 Did you really Yeah, yeah, it was It was cool. 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:14.720 I was like, I was trying to do it like 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:17.400 they did it, you know, sure, but I didn't get 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:19.000 anything they did, but I didn't. 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:20.800 Did you see an eel though? 0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:21.160 No? 0:09:21.320 --> 0:09:23.360 But it was a little scary to put your face 0:09:23.600 --> 0:09:24.440 down there, you know. 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:27.480 Yeah, yeah, I mean doing that above ground can be 0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:31.319 pretty unnerving. Under the sea, that's just scary. Yeah. 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:34.400 I felt like Timothy Dalton then Flash Gordon when he 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:37.160 reached his hand into that thing, or. 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:41.719 I guess Indiana Jones. Didn't he do that in One 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:45.840 of them had spiders everywhere. 0:09:45.920 --> 0:09:47.559 Yeah, they were insects. He had to stick his hand, 0:09:47.720 --> 0:09:49.280 I think, reaching for a lever or something. 0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:54.320 Yeah, so great. One of my favorites are it's a 0:09:54.360 --> 0:09:57.160 type of mori. It's called the ribbon eel. Did you 0:09:57.200 --> 0:09:58.400 look pictures up of these guys. 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:00.679 Oh yeah, they're gorgeous, gorgeous. 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:05.520 So there. They are very appropriately named. They're very flat 0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:08.080 and wide. They do look like ribbons, especially when they're 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:11.120 undulating through the water. But one of the cool things 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:15.640 is is that they're born as males blue and yellow males, 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:17.920 and then all of a sudden they go boop, I'm 0:10:17.920 --> 0:10:21.040 in all yellow female now yeah, check me out. And 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:24.440 they can reproduce either way, depending on what phase of 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:25.080 life they're in. 0:10:25.200 --> 0:10:28.800 Yeah, they're just incredible, very bright, almost fluorescent like, kind 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:31.880 of one of those you know, undersea colors that just 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:34.400 don't feel like they should exist in nature, but it 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:35.680 definitely exists in the ocean. 0:10:36.200 --> 0:10:38.800 Yeah, beautiful, all right, so there. 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:40.600 If you know a more, you know, they have a 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:44.920 great smile. They're known for those those really scary looking teeth. 0:10:44.960 --> 0:10:48.120 They have two sets of jaws. The second set, the 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:52.199 fairyngeal jaws, faces backwards to kind of lock you in 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:54.240 and keep you from escaping if they have you in 0:10:54.280 --> 0:10:57.079 their grasp. Yeah, but they're not dead or not after you. 0:10:57.080 --> 0:10:58.840 You don't need to be afraid of the moray eel 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:00.880 like if they if they get you in the water, 0:11:01.679 --> 0:11:03.680 it's probably because you're in there at night and it's 0:11:04.440 --> 0:11:05.440 obviously an accident. 0:11:05.520 --> 0:11:07.160 They're not like after people. 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:09.800 Right, they only get you when you stick your face 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:10.600 in their heidi hole. 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:12.360 H Yeah, I guess so. 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:15.000 One of the reasons why people are like man, those 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:17.480 things look really aggressive. Is because they show their teeth 0:11:17.559 --> 0:11:20.080 a lot. And that's not because they're trying to scare 0:11:20.120 --> 0:11:22.800 you or because they're really proud of their teeth. It's 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:27.239 because they lack opercula, which are those plate like covers 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:30.000 that go over fish gills, you know that they kind 0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:31.040 of go back and forth on. 0:11:31.120 --> 0:11:32.079 Yeah, they flamber like. 0:11:32.040 --> 0:11:35.360 That Mondy python sketching with the Meaning of Life where 0:11:35.360 --> 0:11:39.080 their goldfish and they're moving their hands. They were simulating opercula, 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:43.000 and one of the things opercula does is it regulates 0:11:43.040 --> 0:11:46.080 and kind of moves water over the gills. Well, the 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:49.240 mores don't have that, so they have to get a 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:51.559 lot of water through their mouth and then that's how 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:54.280 they funnel the water through the gills. And of course 0:11:54.280 --> 0:11:57.120 the gills is where the oxygen is absorbed out of 0:11:57.160 --> 0:11:58.800 the water into the circulation. 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:01.280 Yeah, for sure. So that's when you're gonna see the teeth. 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:05.400 Like I said, you're not gonna get bitten most likely, 0:12:05.440 --> 0:12:07.160 but if you do, it's not going to be fun 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:07.640 for you. 0:12:08.320 --> 0:12:09.559 Those teeth are very sharp. 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:13.160 It's a very painful bite apparently because it punctures very deep, 0:12:13.840 --> 0:12:17.079 so it could always get like tendons and nerves and stuff. 0:12:17.760 --> 0:12:21.079 And while they are not venomous, they do that slime. 0:12:21.840 --> 0:12:24.640 They have slime in their mouths as well, and it's 0:12:24.640 --> 0:12:29.400 a substance called hema glutenin, and it causes red blood 0:12:29.400 --> 0:12:30.400 cells to clump up. 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:32.319 But they also. 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:37.640 They think they generate something called chriinotoxin, so that destroys 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:41.640 red blood cells. So all of that stuff is a 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:44.400 why it's painful, and it can be like super prone 0:12:44.440 --> 0:12:47.360 to infection. Those teeth can break off in your wound. 0:12:47.440 --> 0:12:48.520 It's really not good. 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:52.880 Yeah, I saw Chriinotoxins also are the reason catfish things hurt. 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:53.440 Uh. 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:55.679 Yeah, I feel like we talked about that in our 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:56.640 noodling episode. 0:12:57.440 --> 0:13:00.440 That makes sense. Yeah, that's like sticking your face in 0:13:00.440 --> 0:13:02.800 the Heidi hole, but using your arm instead of your face. 0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:07.680 That's right. So the more is a type of ocean eel, 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:10.840 and you can kind of divide eels into ocean and 0:13:10.920 --> 0:13:15.040 fresh water as we'll see, although ocean eels are far 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:20.000 and away the largest in number and type, right. Yeah. 0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:23.720 One of the other big big I guess ocean eels 0:13:23.760 --> 0:13:28.280 is called the conger from family congrete A, and they 0:13:28.320 --> 0:13:32.079 are like deep water dwellers like three thousand feet below 0:13:32.120 --> 0:13:34.880 the surface. Some of them hang out in some rocky 0:13:34.960 --> 0:13:39.079 areas like More's maybe around coral reefs. But the thing 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:42.160 that's remarkable about the European conger is that that's the 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:43.240 heaviest one, right. 0:13:43.440 --> 0:13:45.920 Yeah, they're not as long and slender as the more 0:13:46.160 --> 0:13:50.320 they're they're still long and snakelike, but they're they're rounder. 0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:54.440 Like the biggest one recorded as two hundred and forty 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:58.400 two pounds, Yeah, which is you know, it's it's a 0:13:58.400 --> 0:13:59.800 game fish. So if you got a two hundred and 0:13:59.840 --> 0:14:01.840 forty two, that's a pretty good catch that day. 0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:06.320 Yeah, it was like how much a couchways? Yeah, yeah, Oh, 0:14:06.400 --> 0:14:08.760 I'm so glad I said that because I've been forgetting 0:14:08.800 --> 0:14:13.480 just to mention this. So our dear awesome friend Brandon Reid, right, 0:14:15.440 --> 0:14:20.040 he created he's our webmaster everybody. He runs and created 0:14:20.080 --> 0:14:22.800 stuff you should know dot com Yeah and pal, yes, 0:14:22.920 --> 0:14:27.120 and great great pal. He created a website called Josh 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:30.960 Clark Calculates and you can go to Josh Clark Calculates 0:14:31.000 --> 0:14:34.600 dot com. I didn't look it up and get this, 0:14:34.720 --> 0:14:39.120 so you can basically describe anything in a measurement of 0:14:39.240 --> 0:14:43.920 whatever you want so somebody is a big Max tall, 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:47.000 so you can select big Max Olympic swimming pools. All 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:50.720 the stuff that we've ever used to essentially describe the 0:14:50.760 --> 0:14:53.600 size or shape or volume of something you can now 0:14:53.680 --> 0:14:56.080 do on Josh Clark calculates dot com. 0:14:56.080 --> 0:14:58.040 Why why am I just now learning about this? 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:01.920 Because I kept forgetting to mention it and he showed 0:15:01.960 --> 0:15:03.600 it to me before. I guess he showed it to 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:05.480 me in Chicago when he came to the show. 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:06.880 All right, I'm looking at it now. 0:15:07.040 --> 0:15:12.240 Josh Clark calculates the weirdest way to measure absolutely anything, right, 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:14.800 the Space Then the example in the homepage is the 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:18.040 Space Shuttle Endeavor has the speed of how many washing 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:22.280 washing machines? And he press a button and it says, 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:26.440 beat boob, the Space Shuttle Endeavor has the speed of 0:15:26.480 --> 0:15:29.560 twenty two thousand, seven hundred and seventy eight washing machines. 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:31.800 Yeah, and he was telling me like, that's like those 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:34.239 are legitimate measurements, like comparison. 0:15:34.400 --> 0:15:36.440 Well, this is my new favorite homepage. 0:15:36.800 --> 0:15:39.800 That awesome. Yeah, that is so cool, man, Love Brandon. 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:42.520 We'll have to get a band named Generator or something going. 0:15:42.920 --> 0:15:44.120 Oh, that's a good idea to you. 0:15:44.560 --> 0:15:46.320 All Right, that was a lot of fun. I feel 0:15:46.320 --> 0:15:48.080 like we should take a break. Everyone can go visit 0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:51.200 that website and calculate some stuff and we'll be back 0:15:51.240 --> 0:16:18.640 with more about eels. 0:16:19.840 --> 0:16:21.840 Okay, Chuck, we're back, and now we're going to talk 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:24.280 about my favorite kind of eel. Is this your favorite 0:16:24.360 --> 0:16:25.600 kind of eel? Uh? Yeah? 0:16:25.640 --> 0:16:27.560 These cute little guys look like plants. 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:30.440 Yeah, so I've seen these before. I had no idea 0:16:30.480 --> 0:16:33.600 there were eels, but they're like, yeah, little worm like 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:37.640 stems sticking up out of the sandy bottom, waving kind 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:40.200 of back and forth with the current. And there's so 0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:42.160 many of them it does it looks like just kind 0:16:42.160 --> 0:16:44.200 of a field of plants. But if you zoom in, 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:48.880 they are these cute little eels with cute little faces. Yeah, 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:51.640 just eating plankton that goes past, and they spend most 0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:55.600 of their lives cemented in the sandy bottom, even though 0:16:55.640 --> 0:16:57.800 they're able to get out and move free. That's just 0:16:57.880 --> 0:16:59.920 kind of where they live. It's also their heidi. 0:17:00.760 --> 0:17:03.720 Yeah, they're called garden eels, and I think when they 0:17:03.720 --> 0:17:07.360 get startled, they their whole body goes back in their 0:17:07.400 --> 0:17:09.960 little burrow. But yeah, these are the ones that can 0:17:10.000 --> 0:17:11.840 hang out together, so it look like a little field 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:13.919 of seagrass and beat thousands of these little guys just 0:17:13.960 --> 0:17:14.560 waving around. 0:17:15.000 --> 0:17:17.720 Yeah, they're so cute too, just lolick up garden eel 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:20.560 and look at their little very serious faces. 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:24.600 Yeah, if you are an eel that's living deep in 0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:25.919 the ocean, you're not going to be one of the 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:28.560 colorful ones. You're probably going to be black or dull gray. 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:32.040 And the gulp or eel is another one that you 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:33.920 should look up when it's safe to do so. This 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:38.040 is it's also called the pelican eel. They're all over 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:41.320 the world, basically in tropical and temperate climates, and they 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:43.680 are very deep dwellers, like five to ten thousand feet 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:47.960 below the surface, and they look crazy. They are a 0:17:47.960 --> 0:17:51.120 few feet long, and their jaw is really the star 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:53.639 of the show. It's a lot bigger than their skull 0:17:53.680 --> 0:17:57.280 and it can unhinge and act as a scoop. It 0:17:57.320 --> 0:17:58.960 looks sort of like well, I mean, they call it 0:17:59.000 --> 0:18:02.000 pelican for a and it looks pelican s but its 0:18:02.000 --> 0:18:03.920 shaped like a shovel, like if a shovel and a 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:06.760 bucket got together and made it. 0:18:06.800 --> 0:18:07.920 This is what it would look. 0:18:07.760 --> 0:18:10.640 Like yeah, and it doesn't always look like that, right, 0:18:10.680 --> 0:18:15.640 so when it changes shape it looks extremely alien. It's 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:21.040 really neat. The video I saw was Gulper eel balloons 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:25.879 its massive jaw a nautilus live and it's just amazing 0:18:25.960 --> 0:18:27.760 to watch that thing do its thing. 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:31.080 Yeah, I agree, that very very cool. 0:18:31.560 --> 0:18:34.240 This is this next section to me is kind of 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:36.560 one of the most astounding things that I didn't know about. 0:18:37.520 --> 0:18:41.600 It is the fact that eels have a real big 0:18:41.680 --> 0:18:46.760 significance in human history, and especially in medieval Europe. But 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:50.280 we're talking mainly about the American eel, the European eel, 0:18:50.280 --> 0:18:54.280 and the Japanese eel. These are fresh water eels. They 0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:57.720 go to spawn in the oceans, but they live in 0:18:57.840 --> 0:19:01.000 fresh water, and they were a huge, huge, huge source 0:19:01.040 --> 0:19:03.320 of food for a very long time in a lot 0:19:03.359 --> 0:19:04.159 of parts of the world. 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:07.160 Yeah, and still are. Japan loves unagi. 0:19:07.400 --> 0:19:09.320 Oh yeah. 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:12.200 So yeah. One of the reasons why they played such 0:19:12.240 --> 0:19:15.280 a role as a food source around the world is 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:18.840 that number one, they were easy to come by, like literally, 0:19:18.920 --> 0:19:22.399 they're swimming around in streams and rivers all over the 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:28.040 northern hemisphere. And in addition to that, they're really really nutritious. 0:19:28.240 --> 0:19:31.600 It turns out high in protein, lots of vitamin B twelve, 0:19:32.000 --> 0:19:36.680 vitamin A, vitamin D that's hard to come by if 0:19:36.680 --> 0:19:38.240 you're not out in the sun. Yeah. 0:19:38.320 --> 0:19:39.560 B twelve for goats. 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:43.280 Yeah, yes, And only three hundred and seventy five calories 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:46.200 for an eel fil a, which is actually pretty new 0:19:46.640 --> 0:19:50.960