Anguilla, Bisato

This remarkable creature is both a sea fish and a freshwater fish. But the most impressive thing about the eel is the fact that they all begin their life in the Sargasso Sea off the American Coast and within 2 hours of being hatched are transported by the Gulf Stream thousands of miles to Europe, where they are caught and speedily consumed. In Italy, these elvers (as they are called at this stage of their life) are known as cieche (meaning ‘blind’), not because they cannot see but because they are so easy to catch that the fishermen say they are blind to the nets.