Eel (Franchise)

An eel is a type of fish usually distinguished by their elongated appearance and small fins. They can live in both fresh water and salt water. There are two species of Eels that live in the waters of the Barbaric Archipelago, the Yellow Eel lives in waters of Berk and the Bloodvein Eel, which is native to waters of Eel Island. Other eel species portrayed in the series are the Giant Screaming Eel and a different species of Electric Eel. All of the four species of eels that appear in the franchise are able to move efficiently and without struggle on land. This may be due to the fact that the these eels resemble the modern living Electric Eel more than other more aquatic eels, as Electric Eels do breathe air. Most dragons hate eels but Typhoomerangs do not.

Eels cause a disease for most dragons called Eel Pox and are the cure for it in humans. Eels are also particularly useful in scaring and waking dragons up.

Yellow Eel
The Yellow Eel (unofficial name) is a black colored eel with yellow spots or stripes. They are common in the waters of Berk and Eel island. They are commonly used to test dragons for their fear of eels.

Bloodvein Eel
The Bloodvein Eel is a violet colored eel with red spots on their body. They are native to waters of Eel Island. This species of eel is highly aggressive, and are known to attack humans, shown when a Bloodvein Eel attacked Hiccup and attempted to choke him, along with some other eels.

Giant Screaming Eel
Giant Screaming Eels resemble the Yellow Eel, but are larger and grey instead of black. No official name was given, but it was dubbed by Snotlout. They possess two small pectoral fins and a dark yellow hue with dark green stripes. They have small, but plentiful teeth. They are longer than many dragons and produce a large, sharp screaming noise. They are shown to be incredibly intelligent even sinking ships to eat the gang. They are also incredibly adapted to moving on land. They first appeared in Race to the Edge.

Electric Eel
The electric eel was mentioned a few times before. It made its first appearance in the episode Total Nightmare, when Snotlout was trying to make Girl Hookfang leave. The electric eel scene showed to be much more eel-like than its actual fish-like body. Also, visible static electricity has also been seen when the eel attacks. This differs from the modern electric eel, E. electricus as they just give invisible electric volts.

In the Film
When feeding Toothless in the cove, Hiccup discovered Toothless was afraid of eels. He later used this in dragon training in the Zippleback lesson. He scared the Zippleback (later named Barf and Belch) back into the cage by hiding an eel under his shirt, leaving the teens and Gobber in shock.

Riders of Berk
Eels have made two appearances in the series. First, in the episode Animal House, they use them to show the animals that dragons are afraid of things too. However, the eels get loose, scaring the dragons and the dragons accidentally hurt the animals, mainly a sheep accidentally hit against a wall by a Monstrous Nightmare.Then it made an appearance in the episode The Terrible Twos. In the mentioned episode, they use eels as a new test called the "Eel Reaction Test" on the baby Typhoomerang, only for it to devour the eel, making the Typhoomerang the only known dragon to not be scared of eels.

Defenders of Berk
Eels appear again in the episode, The Eel Effect. In this episode it's discovered that eels can transmit a disease known as eel pox. How humans get it is unknown, but dragons contract it by ingesting an eel. The symptoms of this disease on dragons include erratic behavior, explosive red fire, an increase on the shot limit, strange eyesight and hearing. Human symptoms are coughing and strange behavior. The Typhoomerang is immune to this disease though and may consciously ingest eels to increase their shot limit. Eels are also part of the ingredients necessary to build a remedy to the pox.

Race to the Edge
The giant screaming eels appear in the episodes Dragon Eye of the Beholder Parts I and II. In the first one they were trying to sink The Reaper, and in the second one, they tried to make Hiccup fall into the water.

In Total Nightmare, Snotlout threw a basket with an Electric Eel in it at Girl Hookfang. Though Hookfang showed up and knocked the eel away at Snotlout and electrocuting him.

Trivia

 * The giant screaming eels are most likely based off of the shrieking eels from the movie, The Princess Bride.
 * Typhoomerangs were the first dragon to be able to eat eels without getting sick. The Second was the Death Song, but is only revealed and relevant to School of Dragons.