- "Allow me to introduce you to Ceti Alpha V's only remaining indigenous lifeform."
- —Khan Noonien Singh, 2285.[src]
The Ceti eel was an animal lifeform native to the planet Ceti Alpha V. They are 0.36 metres long. (ST reference: The Worlds of the Federation)
When placed in a human auditory canal, larva eels would wrap around the cerebral cortex, rendering the host extremely suggestible before death. After observing Clark Terrell resisting an eel's compulsion, and reading of Marla McGivers doing the same, James T. Kirk pondered if Starfleet disciplinary training could overcome the creatures' influence. (TOS novel: To Reign in Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh)
History[]
Klingons were known to eat these eels near Molor's shrine and the Orions' embassy/outpost on Qo'noS in the 2250s. (DSC episode: "Will You Take My Hand?")
When Ceti Alpha VI exploded in 2268, shifting the orbit of Ceti Alpha V, the planet went from being class M to class K; all life on the planet died except for the Augment colonists and the Ceti eel. In fact, the eel survived by turning to the colonists to serve as new hosts. Several of Khan's followers, including his wife, Marla McGivers, died after being infected with the eel.
By one account of the Augments' exile, the ceti eel existed on the surface of the planet, using a creature known to Khan Noonien Singh and his followers as the "Ceti bison" as a host for its young. The young would wrap themselves around the animal's cerebral cortex which would result in changes in the bison's behavior as the eel grew in size. At times the Ceti bison could appear inactive, while at other times, they seemed to stagger and move about in an odd, almost drunken, manner. Fortunately, as the two creatures had evolved on the same planet, the Ceti bison generally did not suffer any ill-effects from acting as host, although if the eel failed to vacate its host in a sufficiently timely manner the host would soon die from massive cerebral damage. The eel first turned its attention to the Augments in the immediate aftermath of Ceti Alpha VI's destruction, resulting in Khan's forces keeping a strict quarantine protocol against the creatures. Following Harulf Ericsson going rogue, his forces captured a large number of adult eels. When one of Khan's followers fell into the pit they were kept in, the eels consumed the Augment in short order. (TOS novel: To Reign in Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh)
By another account, the eels were initially a subterranean lifeform, venturing to the surface in the aftermath of the cataclysm to search for new food. Joachim first discovered the eels after one larva slithered out of a dead Augment, allowing him and Khan to track down and trap the mother creature. (TOS - Khan: Ruling in Hell comics: "Issue 1", "Issue 2", "Issue 3", "Issue 4")
In 2285, when the USS Reliant visited Ceti Alpha V seeking a suitable planet on which to deploy the Genesis Device, Captain Clark Terrell and Commander Pavel Chekov beamed down to the surface to check some unusual readings. The two men came across the Botany Bay colony and were subsequently captured by Khan who had eels placed into their ears to make them more suggestible and reveal why they had come to the planet. Khan also used eels to control the Reliant engineering crew when he took control of the ship. (TOS movie, novelization & comic adaptation: The Wrath of Khan; Decipher RPG module: Worlds)
By 2287, the numbers of the species had gone into a terminal decline due to a combination of the planet's increasingly inhospitable climate, the few remaining Augments having grown adept at shielding themselves from the eels, and the lack of any other species to use as hosts. After the last Augments were removed from the planet by Captain James T. Kirk, the species likely became extinct. (TOS novel: To Reign in Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh)
At least one Ceti eel had survived to 2381 as an exhibition in Narj's Miraculous Menagerarium. (LD episode: "I Have No Bones Yet I Must Flee")
Mirror Universe[]
The Ceti eel could also be found on the surface of the mirror Ceti Alpha V. When the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance attempted to establish a prison on the planet, several prisoners, guards and the warden died before the discovery of the Ceti eel. Although Alliance officials claimed to have exterminated the creature, it could often be found as an item for sale within the black market. Moreover, the eel was sometimes used by members of the Terran Rebellion when attempting to garner information from the Alliance and its personnel. (TNG novel: The Worst of Both Worlds)
Appendices[]
External link[]
- Ceti eel article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.