So we all know eels, the question how much do we know about them. In Cambodia, there are 3 eel species and many people eat them as alcohol food or regular meal. Simply put, stir-fried eels with chilis is the perfect dish to have when people drink alcohol. Eels are also common meals for some households as well but they are not common in the cities. It is a bit confusing for some because it is actually a fish species with a unique body body. For now, let’s learn some more about the 3 eel species in Cambodia below.
Bengal Mud Eel (អន្ទង់ត្រាវ)
A Bengal mud eel can reach up to 100 centimeters, but an average length is usually 20 to 55 centimeters. It has a flattened head with a single slit-like gill opening at the bottom of the back of its head. The head is small with little eyes, and it has a wide mouth with villiform teeth. This eel species is blackish-green to rufous in color, and it has a purplish tinge and dark spots on its body.
This one is endemic to brackish water, freshwater rivers, and swamps in Oceania, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. They inhabit mud holes of rice fields as well as marginal areas of tidal creeks and weed-infested wetlands. The thing is that they like living in areas with low oxygen content like lakes, marshy areas, ponds, and swamps. Just like other mud eels, this one also feed on small live fish. In Cambodia, we have eel farms that breed Bengal mud eels to meet the demands for consumption also. The flesh is tasty, and it is great in various cuisines here.
One Gilled Eel (អន្ទង់ក្រហម)
The body of this eel species is greenish to brown with dark mottling and spotting while the back is darker in color. We call it red eel in Cambodia due to the dark red coloration, and it is not quite common as food. Simply because its flesh is not as soft and delicious as other eel species. One gilled eels live in backwaters of rivers, stagnant ponds, and swamps, inhabiting soft bottom sediments. They are also common in well-vegetated backwaters of brackish estuaries and swamps around there. These eels burrow in bottom sediments, and the males guard and build burrows or nests.
Swamp Eel (អន្ទង់ដំណើប)
Here you are looking at the most common eel species as food in not only Cambodia but other countries in Asia. A swamp eel is long and slender, reaching a length of up to 150 centimeters depending on the species. The interesting thing about swamp eels is that the eyes of the cave-dwelling species are beneath their skin, meaning they’re blind. As for the normal ones, they have small eyes just like the others. The coolest thing about them is that they can breathe air, and that allows them to survive in low-oxygenated water. This also allows them to migrate a short distance overland between ponds on wet nights. However, the best part is definitely the fact that they can change their gender from female to male if the male population is low.
Swamp eels live in damp places, marshes, and ponds in tropical and subtropical areas. They inhabit a wide variety of environments such as canals, ditches, lakes, marshes, reservoirs, rice paddies, rivers, ponds, and streams. In their muddy habitats, swamp eels can burrow up to 1.5 meters deep during the day. These eels are active at night, coming out to feed on aquatic animals such as crustaceans, fish, worms, and more. People go to ponds and rice paddies to catch eels and turn them into food such as stew, stir fry, and more.
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