Mo Ganji: European Eel | Europäischer Aal | Anguilla anguilla | No. 074/250 from work group 8/99

European Eel | Europäischer Aal | Anguilla anguilla

Mo Ganji’s single line shows the European eel — a long, serpentine migratory fish with a smooth, elongated body adapted to rivers and oceans alike — through an act of reduction that foregrounds presence over description. The continuous line offers a restrained suggestion of form, enough to evoke recognition while remaining open to other readings. In setting aside the superfluous, the drawing allows essence to surface before the certainty of naming takes hold.

Anguilla anguilla is listed as Critically Endangered (CR) on the IUCN Red List. Native to rivers, lakes and coastal waters across Europe and parts of North Africa, the species undertakes one of the most remarkable migrations in the animal kingdom, travelling thousands of kilometres to spawn in the Sargasso Sea. Over recent decades, populations have collapsed across its entire range.

The principal threats include barriers to migration such as dams and hydropower installations, overfishing at multiple life stages, habitat loss and degradation, pollution, and changes in oceanic conditions linked to climate change. Parasites and disease further weaken already stressed populations. Despite international protection measures, recovery remains slow and uncertain.

Ganji’s single line allows the eel to appear as more than a biological phenomenon or conservation statistic. It invites a moment of attention to a life shaped by movement and transformation, reminding us that human attempts to control landscapes and waters often ignore the deeper continuities they interrupt — and that our own place within nature is inseparable from the migratory paths we alter and the systems we depend upon.