The European eel Anguilla anguilla, a sleek, snake-like fish with a fascinating life cycle, once teemed in rivers. But their numbers have plummeted by over 95% since the 1980s.
Behind this dramatic decline is a combination of threats, including pollution, overfishing, and the fragmentation of rivers by human-made structures like dams and weirs.
But our new research has found a simple yet innovative way to help eels get past such obstructions: textured tiles.