Animal Crossing New Horizons: How to Catch a Ribbon Eel

The Ribbon Eel is a pretty awesome looking creature that you can catch in the Summer months of Animal Crossing New Horizons. Here's how to catch one.

Guide by Jake Green, Guides Editor

Updated on 4 June 2020

Animal Crossing New Horizons hosts a huge variety of creepy crawlies and water-dwelling creatures. You can catch them to fill out your museum, with different species becoming available at different times of the year. The Ribbon Eel spawns in Summer, and is pretty rare. In this guide we'll show you how to catch a Ribbon Eel, what shadow size to look out for, and how much they sell for.

How to Catch a Ribbon Eel in Animal Crossing New Horizons

To catch a Ribbon Eel in Animal Crossing New Horizons you will need to head to your beaches, at any time of the day. You're looking for a very specific shape of shadow, which we'll detail in the next section. Ribbon Eels only appear Jun-Oct in the Northern Hemisphere and Dec-April in the Southern Hemisphere. We recommend bringing some fish bait, and throwing it until you see the correct shadow.

Ribbon Eel Shadow Size

The Ribbon Eel, and other eels like it, has a very uniquely-shaped shadow. You'll want to look for a medium sized shadow that looks a little well...eel-like. We've included a screenshot below for reference, so cast your line at shadows of this shape.

Here's the shadow you'll want to look out for | *Jake Green/USG*

We have plenty more Animal Crossing New Horizons guides to check out. You can find close to 100 guides right here on USG, and if you head to our AC: New Horizons Walkthrough you'll see them all in one handy place. From guides on the different kinds of buildings, to detailed breakdowns of how to catch specific bugs and fish, we've got you covered.

The Critterpedia entry for the Ribbon Eel | *Jake Green/USG*

Ribbon Eel Sell Price

If you manage to catch yourself a Ribbon Eel you can sell it at Nook's Cranny for 600 Bells. If you wait and sell it to CJ (more on CJ in this guide), you'll get 900 Bells. We recommend donating your eel to Blathers at the museum (more on the Museum here).

That's not all we've got in terms of Animal Crossing coverage on USG. First up there's this awesome news story on a player who recreated Hyrule in the game. After that, be sure to check out our official Animal Crossing New Horizons review.