No Such Thing As A Fish cover image

No Such Thing As A Fish

574: No Such Thing as Pyramids in Johannesburg

Mar 13, 2025
The hosts dive into the quirky world of eels, revealing their incredible escape tactics and bizarre life stories. They share a jaw-dropping tale of a son swallowed by a whale while kayaking, exploring profound themes of communication. A Swedish politician's absurd fear of bananas sparks a humorous discussion on irrational phobias. The podcast also serves up the strange remedies post-Chernobyl, the unexpected inspirations behind iconic songs, and the geography blunders in Toto's lyrics, all wrapped in entertaining anecdotes and lighthearted banter.
01:00:22

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

  • Japanese eels have developed a unique survival mechanism allowing them to escape predatory fish, albeit with variable success rates.
  • The drastic decline in eel populations, mainly due to human activities and overfishing, highlights urgent conservation challenges facing these species.

Deep dives

Eels Can Escape Predators

Japanese eels possess a remarkable ability to escape predatory fish by reversing through their gills after being swallowed. A team at Nagasaki University discovered this phenomenon while conducting experiments where eels were x-rayed and introduced to dark sleeper fish, with some eels managing to escape roughly a third of the time. This behavior, while intriguing, is not foolproof; many eels found themselves stuck or only partially escaping. It raises questions about the eels’ survival strategies in the wild, suggesting their adaptability to dangerous situations.

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