What are Vinegar Eels?
Discovered by Pierre Borel in 1656, the vinegar eel is a “free-living” or pelagic nematode that feeds on the microbial culture in vinegar. They can be found in unfiltered vinegar and are harmless to human beings. However, in the United States all vinegar products must be filtered and pasteurized to prevent any live vinegar eels from being sold.
Their scientific name is Turbatrix aceti and they are not eels at all. The environment of these nematodes make them exceptionally tolerant of variation in acidity and alkalinity and they may be able to tolerate a wider range than any other species, being able to survive from pH 1.6 to 11.
Real extremophiles! Vinegar eels are amazing little creatures, and the ingenuity of humans has found a place for them in the aquarium hobby. Vinegar eel cultures are used for feeding baby fish fry and most master breeders keep their own cultures for just this purpose.
What are Vinegar Eels Used For?
The only use of vinegar eels is to feed aquarium fish. These creatures have no other use to us human beings. We can’t even eat them because they will survive our digestion process and be excreted. No nourishment will come from them. However, there is nothing to fear from ingesting them. Nothing bad will come from this event.
