Eels have vanished from critical parts of Somerset Levels, DNA tests show

Eels were once so numerous in Somerset they were used as currency, with 12th-century tenants of Glastonbury Abbey paying 14,000 eels a year in rent. Photograph: Alamy

Eel experts say they are shocked to find no evidence of the animal in the network of drainage ditches that make up its traditional habitats in the Somerset Levels, which once teemed with the critically endangered fish.

DNA sampling by the Sustainable Eel Group and Somerset Eel Recovery Project in the drainage ditches found no traces of eel DNA.