Florida’s shocking plan to wipe out nuisance eels: electrify the lake

Florida’s wetlands are home to a wide variety of wildlife, including 36 threatened or endangered species. Communities of alligators, caiman and crocodiles, over 360 different species of birds and almost 300 different species of fish have made the Gulf state their home.

And now there is a newcomer on the scene - the Asian swamp eel. It’s not known when these slimy, slippery creatures were introduced into the two water canal systems in the Everglades National Park and North Miami, but over the course of the past 30-40 years, the eels have taken hold to such a point that they are now seen as a nuisance.

Asian swamp eels get a foothold in Florida

The species in question are Cuchia (Ophichthys cuchia), a type of Asian swamp eel usually found in rice fields and which is native to Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan, and Monopterus albus, which can be found in India, China, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Bangladesh.

US government authorities believe that the eels linked to the live food trade - imported to be bred and sold as food within Asian communities.

The Asian swamp eel is a nonnative, invasive species and as numbers have increased, there are now large populations that need to be controlled. These parasite-carrying rice eels feed on small fishes, tadpoles and aquatic insects. They damage waterways and threaten native species.

Tens of thousands of swamp eels inhabit Florida’s waterways, and they are expanding. Reducing numbers isn’t a simple task - first because they are nocturnal animals, only slithering out from their burrows in the dark of the night. Like rats, they are exceptionally good at hiding, which makes catching them a challenge.

Electric shock treatment

A team of researchers has devised an ingenious way of hunting down Florida’s swamp eels - shock water electrolysis. By dangling electrodes into the night waters, any eels swimming nearby will be subjected to a low-voltage electric shock, stunning them and rendering them motionless so that they float to the surface and can be scooped up in nets.

It’s a time-consuming process and yields few results. The eels hide in small water pockets between rocks which makes them even harder to retrieve. But researchers at the USGS Wetland and Aquatic Research Center have managed to collect enough examples of live Asian swamp eels to continue their studies into these slippery serpents and learn a little more about the conditions in which they can survive and thrive.

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