re: "
So you are saying this marine biologist and conservationist and the director of the University of Texas Mission-Aransas Reserve couldn't tell an American eel from Conger eel???"
It would seem so, yes. He may have misID's in the moment & the photographer posted before he confirmed, or he may work mostly in the fresh/estuaries & not seen a conger before, though if at all familiar with eels then this thing just looks wrong...
I was in gradschool with a brilliant woman in yr-3 of a 4yr PhD looking at the impact of
P. dovii on native & invasive species in the Black River (Jamaica), her advisors being in Jamaica, Central America (CR, I think) & the US.
Her cichlids had beautiful red eyes...
... and then there's that Jags were brought-in by the tilapia industry to control-for spawned recruits within the farm ponds (which flooded). Myself, I blame her advisors for not paying attention or not knowing (FFS), or subconsciously wanting it to be the "groovier" species and/or having a hammer so making everything look like a nail. However, I was also a little stunned that nobody had asked the guys at Fisheries nor the farmers or any aquarium keeper (before me, the coral-nitwit in the back row)
Her raw science still worked & she was able to make her corrections before submitting/defending her thesis, before anybody "important" noticed. She still owes me that beer...
It's weirdly common that nobody notices. I often jokingly challenge people (students) to find the blaring error in my own thesis - so far so good, though writing style might put them to sleep before they get there.
PS: I've kept a number of eels from newly-settled, 2~3" long & they're fantastic wee pets.
Smart & interactive, very active, very strong & very destructive when they get to rummaging, so: big rocks & logs rather than plants & bamboo
