Dear WW: I had never heard about an eel called pride. But I searched and found this :
2. (Zoöl.) A small lamprey eel; the pride.

The lampreys are also called cyclostomes because they have no jaws. Their mouth is a rigid circle, and they feed by attaching to fish, and a movable rasping plate grates away fish flesh. The lampreys got into the Great Lakes from the ocean via the Welland Canal, and have been a terrible predator on game fish. Millions of dollars have been spent controlling them. The has been rather good control by putting electic barriers in mouths of small streams where they go to breed. They are unredeemably ugly. I'll search for site about dontrol efforts.

PS. http://biology.usgs.gov/s+t/SNT/noframe/gl129.htm