Up Close And Personal with a Rare Wild New Zealand Long-Fin Eel. (Video included)

Meet Philepe’. Philepe’ can be found on any given day, lurking in the shadows, chasing smaller eels away from his turf and generally loitering around the river near one of my secluded escape spots. 

I have been escaping reality to this (and other) secluded spots nestled in my local National Park Reserve for at least the last eight years. Whenever I have been staying near this spot, I have made the effort to go and drop a little food in the river for Philepe’. He seems to live under one certain rock and on any day of the week, I have been able to lure him out with the smell of some tasty snacks within 5 min of arriving. I have seen him chase off smaller eels, eat little fresh water crayfish (Kora in New Zealand) and generally laze around his little patch of river.

Philepe’ is a New Zealand Long-Fin Eel. These eels are only found in New Zealand and generally live longer and grow bigger than the more common short-fin eel. The short-fin eels can be found in New Zealand, Australia and some of the other Pacific Islands. 

Long-Fin eels are starting to deserve the status of rare, because they are very sensitive to pollution, some of the New Zealand waterways have had diminishing numbers of long-fin eels and are now officially recognised as an “At Risk” species.

The Long-Fin Eel can grow up to (and past on occasion) two meters in length (6 Foot+) and can weigh up to 20 - 30 kg. They live at a wide range of altitudes and can even be found way up in the mountainous high country of New Zealand (think ‘Lord Of The Ring’ mountain scenery). They make the trip as babies from the Pacific Ocean into the rivers and waterways and from there, journey up river to find a home. The baby eels can range in size but are usually only a few centimetres long. They are legendary climbers and it is not unheard of them ‘climbing’ 20m waterfalls (that is about 60 foot high). They are quite happy to leave the water and wriggle around obstacles like dams and cliffs, like a snake on the damp areas of ground.

They can live up to 100+ years old and there are legends of huge eels in some of the mountain ranges taking sheep and cattle from the side of the river to eat.

Anyway I thought some of you might like the opportunity to meet Philepe’ face to face, I have spent many hours watching him swim around and chase other eels off. I love having him living at my escape camp and I do not look forward to the day he decides to make the BIG final trip back down the river, to the Pacific Ocean to breed and die.

If you would like to hear more about me secluded hideaway and see some footage of our gorgeous native bush, check out my other post on this subject. https://steemit.com/nature/@silvernova/stop-take-a-breath-and-join-me-in-my-happy-place-videos-to-relax-the-soul-included

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