Book Talk: Ellen Ruppel Shell on Slippery Beast: A true crime natural history with eels

The Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT is excited to welcome Journalist Ellen Ruppel Shell, KSJ ’85, for a talk about her new book Slippery Beast: A true crime natural history with eels.

What is it about eels?  Depending on who you ask, they are a pest, a threat, a fascination, or a pot of gold. Once the world’s most abundant fish, but in recent decades their numbers have plummeted.  Because eels—whether smoked, jellied, or as unagi, are another thing:  delicious.

In Slippery Beast, journalist Ruppel Shell travels the world of “eel people,” pursuing a burgeoning obsession with this mysterious, highly coveted creature.  Despite centuries of study by celebrated thinkers from Aristotle to Leuwenhoek to yes, Sigmund Freud, much about eels remains a mystery, especially how eels beget eels.  As a result, infant eels are incredibly valuable, and the target of both legitimate dealers and criminal cartels around the globe.  Indeed, the illicit trade in baby eels is the world’s most lucrative wildlife crime.

Please contact Learning and Events Coordinator Claire Sadar if you are interested in attending.