Eels have been reportedly spotted in Marine Lake.
Worried early morning running club joggers say strange movements have been seen on the surface recently and an ‘eel like’ movement has been spotted sneaking through the water.
One jogger said “If you stand on the older bridge and look over the side when the water is still in the morning you can see things moving in the water and I’m no fisherman but I’m sure there are eels in there. I don’t know how they got there but are they not harmful to wildlife? They could grow massive and cause chaos.”
The Marine Lake is connected to the sea via a small inlet and experts say it is possible that a small number of seawater eels have managed to get through a broken pipe and then bred.
Species information
The eel is famous for both its slippery nature and its mammoth migration from its freshwater home to the Sargasso Sea where it breeds. It has suffered dramatic declines and is a protected species. Average Lifespan: 15-70 years
Conservation status: Priority Species under the UK Post-2010 Biodiversity Framework. Listed as Critically Endangered on the global IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-explorer/freshwater-fish/eel