River eel
A long-bodied fish that travels between river and sea — a life lived across two waters most creatures stay inside one of.
A river eel in a dream is the dream's image of a life lived across two waters that most creatures stay inside one of. The eel hatches in the deep sea, grows up in rivers, and travels back to the sea to spawn; the whole biography is a crossing. The dream brings the eel when a part of your life — a biography, a professional path, a cultural identity — has its meaning only in the back-and-forth between two environments. An eel travelling steadily upstream is the dream affirming that the crossing is on schedule. An eel trapped in a single pool, with the route to the sea cut off, is the dream noting that one half of the life has been amputated, and the creature still carries the whole biography in a body that can now only finish part of it.