Air-breathing process of Asian Swamp Eel

[Samrat Sarkar]

I had a small time to observe this creature while catching crab in my village with my son. He spotted first that eel. We spent a few hour there to observe the breathing process of this eel.

[Samrat Sarkar]

I am presenting the sequence here.

[Samrat Sarkar]

Then it inhale air like this...

[Samrat Sarkar]

Then it started disappear into water..

[Samrat Sarkar]

Again it appeared near the water surface to take air keeping its body axis in more vertical way.

[Samrat Sarkar]

Then it opened its mouth and took a breath...

[Samrat Sarkar]

And again disappeared into water.. The gap between two sequence was 7 to 8 minutes.

[Samrat Sarkar]

This is the habitat of eel. Can you spot him into water here?

[Samrat Sarkar]

The face of the eel..
Photographed with Olympus OMD EM 1 + Zuiko 12-40 PRO lense

[Mrudul Godbole]

Nice documentation of the breathing process. So every 7-8 mins it has to come to the surface to breathe. This helps in understanding the behaviour of this species. Good spotting and nice photographs. Thanks for sharing.

[Pawan Ranta]

How long the eel was?

[Samrat Sarkar]

@Mrudul Ji, Yes most of the time it comes to the water surface with 7 to 8 mins intervals, but in afternoon the intervals extended upto 15 mins. That was cloudy, humid day with showers time to time. After 5 or 5.15 pm it never came out to the surface. The respiratory system of Eel is complex and beyond my study. It requires long and in-depth observation to understand their respiratory behavior. I have never seen a Eel in its habitat before. only I wish that I have a camera-housing for under-water photography.

@Pawan ji, I didn't see the full length of the eel as it never came out from his hide with its full body. It only protruded a part of its body from the floor of that pond as you see in images.

[Pawan Ranta]

@Pawan ji, I didn't see the full length of the eel as it never came out from his hide with its full body. It only protruded a part of its body from the floor of that pond as you see in images.

Okay. The pictures are great! Did you use any macro lens?

[Samrat Sarkar]

@Pawan ji, I missed to mention the Equipment details. It is Olympus OMD-EM1 + Zuiko 12-40mm PRO lens.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Nicely documented. The angles from the top give an unique view. Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi