REALLY EELS? Our recent mention of eels in area rivers and the inclination of some of our locals to cook and eat them gave rise to an email from Al McLaughlin of Kane.
He expressed some doubt that a report heard on a Salamanca, N.Y., radio station in the 1960s saying “The eels are running” would have been accurate, or even possible.
Al explained that adult eels migrate to oceans to spawn, or reproduce.
“Their young, called elvers, migrate from far into the Atlantic to follow rivers upstream while they grow to adulthood,” Al wrote. “In Pennsylvania, eels do migrate through the Delaware River system.
“I find it difficult to believe that eels could migrate thousands of miles up the Mississippi, Ohio and Allegheny rivers and make it around the Kinzua Dam, which was finished in the late 1960s.
Al wonders whether the “eels” that were talked about near the Seneca reservation could have actually been lampreys, which resemble eels, but have suction-cup like mouths. He says he’s seen some in streams in the area, but he’s never seen an actual American eel.
“Lampreys have no bones, but I’ve never heard of them being eaten,” Al said.
We were intrigued by Al’s information, so we looked for an authority on Pennsylvania fish. Doug Fischer, a non-game fish biologist for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission in Pleasant Gap, said he agrees with Al.
Although American eels were native to the Ohio watershed, of which the Allegheny is part, Doug said the building of locks and dams on the Ohio River in the 1800s would have stopped American eels from migrating up the Ohio and into the Allegheny. In his estimation, the most likely fish that would have been found around here in the 1960s that resembles an American eel is the Ohio lamprey.
The parasitic lamprey grows to as much as 15 inches and has a maximum diameter of about an inch. They have sucker-lined mouths with bicuspid teeth inside.
Doug says he’s never eaten a lamprey, though he has seen references to a dish called lamprey pie.
Ever intrigued by something new to eat from our streams or forests, we located a description and history of lamprey pie on the What’s Cooking America Internet site. The dish was especially enjoyed by British monarchs back as far as the 1200s.
Seeing that we’ve already shared three recipes for American eel, which still writhes in Pennsylvania’s Delaware basin, we’ll spare everyone the stomach-turning details of lamprey pie.