Move Over Salmon: Indonesian Eel Found to Have World's Highest Omega-3 Content

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - The sidat, an eel native to Indonesia, is known to have a very high content of Omega-3 fatty acids. Its levels are even said to surpass the Omega-3 found in salmon and snakehead fish. In addition to being rich in Omega-3, sidat also contains various other important nutrients, such as vitamin A, vitamin B complex, iron, protein, calories, and phosphorus. “All this time, we thought salmon had the highest levels, but it turns out sidat has the highest nutritional value,” said Gadis Sri Haryani, a Senior Researcher at the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN). Sidat is very beneficial for the human body as it contains Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) for brain development and function, as well as Eicosapentaenoic Acid (EPA) which helps reduce inflammation and maintain heart health. The sidat is a catadromous fish, meaning it spends most of its life in freshwater and migrates to the sea to spawn. “Catadromous means that when the eggs hatch in the sea, they become leptocephalus, or a unique eel larva, which has a flat, transparent, leaf-like shape and cannot yet swim,” she explained. “Then, during the journey from deep sea waters to the estuary—a semi-enclosed body of water at a river mouth where freshwater mixes with seawater—this larva transforms into a glass eel,” she added.