Includes bibliographical references and index

"What is it about eels? Depending on who you ask, they are a pest, a fascination, a threat, a pot of gold. What they are not is predictable. Eels emerged some 200 million years ago, weathered mass extinctions and continental shifts, and were once among the world's most abundant freshwater fish. But since the 1970s, their numbers have plummeted. Because eels--as unagi--are another thing: delicious. ..."--

Prologue : monsters in the pond -- Introducton : love's arrow -- Eels of Maine -- Kingpin -- Nuns of the water -- Freud's eel encounter -- Oh, what a lucky man -- Tales from the uncanny -- Don't call him Ahab -- Shapeshifters -- Animal magnetism, or snorkeling with eels -- Dr. Eel and the lovely maidens -- Night mind of water -- River is full of money -- A most slippery business -- Tribal matters -- Closing the circle -- Epilogue : this incomprehensible world