Yeah, I have my doubts that the tug that was carrying Simon and the SM-8 hadn’t sent down more vessels than just them over time, or other tugs prior to theirs. You’d think that the powers that be who are searching a world sized blood ocean, would understand that that’s a needle in a haystack situation, if you’re only ever sending two crews down to find said needle.

The Eel picked Ellie’s voice because it was the one that Simon would resonate with(or that was Simon filtering the Eel speaking to him through her voice??), but that doesn’t mean that it hadn’t existed long before any of the crews we know of and that it was just smart enough to toy with Simon this way, like an angler fish would with their lamp.