For an image rendered in glass beads and porcupine quills, an American eel featured in Alcoa Foundation Hall of American Indians conveys a surprising amount of movement.
The snake-like fish, one of nine Clan Animal images created by Onondaga artist Lisa Thomas Boots, is positioned in a full-body
“S” curve, and seems capable of swimming out of its circular confinement with the next undulation.
Real-life movements of this widely -distributed species occur in both saltwater and freshwater, from spawning grounds in Sargasso Sea of the North Atlantic to historic feeding areas far up the river systems of the eastern North America.
The presence of small numbers of American eels in Pittsburgh’s rivers is described in a recent Pittsburgh Post-Gazette essay about fish migration.
To read the essay please visit: http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/Op-Ed/2018/05/13/The-Next-Page-Pittsburgh-below-the-waterline-Patrick-McShea/stories/201805130010
