They swabbed them and sequenced their DNA.
That just moves the question to how they figured out the genetic sex determination system of eels, or even how they figured out that sex is genetically determined in eels (and is it? many vertebrates don't have genetically determined sex).
Thank you, I forgot that's cheap enough these days.
That just moves the question to how they figured out the genetic sex determination system of eels, or even how they figured out that sex is genetically determined in eels (and is it? many vertebrates don't have genetically determined sex).