Japan consumes more than 70 percent of the global eel catch.

Eels have many predators, including large fish and seabirds. But the largest of eels, such as the moray, have very few natural enemies because most creatures are afraid of them. As for the question of what an eel eats—most eels eat other fish and crustaceans.

Eels were historically a cheap, nutritious and readily available food source for the people of London; European eels were once so common in the Thames that nets were set as far upriver as London itself, and eels became a staple for London’s poor.

English food has a bad reputation. Despite gifting humanity with delicacies such as the Yorkshire pudding, mushy peas and mince pies, English cuisine receives a lot of criticism for being “bland” or just plain weird. Americans ridicule English gravy-based dishes, while Europeans joke that English cuisine is overcooked.

Tribe, giblets and eel are the three most-disliked traditional British delicacies, according to a new study by YouGov. Experts believe that young people are likely to shun these traditional foods in favour of “big flavours”, preferring curries and pizza to pie, mash, liquor and jellied eels.

But the return to eating innards was under way even before this year’s financial crisis, as celebrity chefs and restaurateurs have encouraged a return to cooking organs such as liver and kidneys, which once enjoyed a central place in British cooking.

Eel populations in the river Thames have crashed by 98% in just five years, scientists warned today. The eel, which has been a traditional east London dish for centuries, now appears to be vanishing from the capital’s river, according to researchers from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).