About the American Eel
American Eel (pencil eel, yellow eel, black eel, silver eel, Boston eel, Atlantic eel, or common eel.
Description
– The body is extremely elongated (snakelike), with a very long dorsal fin that is confluent with the anal fin. Pelvic fins are absent, and tiny scales are embedded in the skin, giving eels a smooth feel. The adult color is a yellow-brown with a pale underbelly.
Subspecies
– It is a distinct species with no known subspecies. Similar species exist around Japan, Australia, and Europe.
Range
– American eels are found in waters with coastal access along the Atlantic seaboard of the US.
Habitat
– Eels are primarily riverine but access ponds and lakes. They orient to structure and flow.
Spawning Habits
– Spawning is still not well understood but fascinating. The adults migrate to the ocean during autumn. During the long trek, the fish metamorphose into a “silver eel” stage, lose their vision, and stop eating. Meanwhile, the gonads expand dramatically—the fish head to a location near the Sargasso Sea where they spawn en masse and apparently die. The eggs hatch into leaf-shaped, floating leptocephalus larvae that drift with the currents. When they come within range of a freshwater river, the leptocephalus metamorphoses again into a tiny, semi-transparent “glass eel” that buries itself in the sand. The glass eel changes again into a pigmented pencil eel and continues its migration upstream to find a habitat to mature and await its time to go spawn. This process, in which fish spawn in the ocean and mature inland, is termed catadromy (the fish are catadromous).
Feeding habits
– Brown American eels are predators that feed on insects, crustaceans, mollusks, and some fish. Although often associated with decaying food, they prefer live food.
Age and Growth
– American eels are known to live as long as 43 years, but generally migrate to spawn and die long before then.
Sporting Qualities
– Not generally considered to be a sport fish in this country. They can be caught on hook and line and are taken commercially.
Eating Qualities
– This is a gourmet fish in the Asian markets and is often used in Sushi. It tends to be bony by American standards, but it is good smoked. State and World Records – The largest on record is an approximately 60-inch-long male weighing about 16 pounds.
To get additional information on the American Eel, we recommend reading the Wikipedia.
