Country Species Summary

Anguilla rostrata in Bahamas
American eel

Anguilla rostrata (Lesueur, 1817)
Family:	Anguillidae (Freshwater eels)	picture (Anros_u2.jpg) by Sneegas, G.W.
Order:	Anguilliformes (eels and morays)
Class:	Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes)
FishBase name:	American eel
Max. size:	152 cm TL (male/unsexed; Ref. 26938); 122 cm TL (female); max. published weight: 7,330 g (Ref. 4699); max. reported age: 43 years
Environment:	demersal; catadromous ; depth range 0 - 464 m
Climate:	subtropical; 4 - 25°C; 66°N - 7°N
Global Importance:	fisheries: commercial; aquaculture: commercial; aquarium: public aquariums
Resilience:	Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (tm=3-6; Fec=5,000,000)
Distribution:	Northwest to western Central Atlantic: Greenland south along the Atlantic coast of Canada and the USA to Panama, and throughout much of the West Indies south to Trinidad.
Diagnosis:	Dorsal spines (total): 0-0; Anal spines: 0-0. Head rather long; eyes small and placed well forward on head. Lips thick. Caudal vertebrae without transverse processes. Premaxillae not developed as distinct elements in adults. Frontal bones paired, not grown together. Pectoral girdle with 7 to 9 (up to 11 in the young) radial elements. Adults usually white or light-colored below and brownish to blue-black above, but coloration is variable; young with some yellow on the edges of the dorsal and anal fins (Ref. 30499). Caudal fin rounded, joined to dorsal and anal fins. Gill opening on side in front of lower half of well-developed pectoral fin; lower jaw longer than upper; 103-111 vertebrae (Ref. 26938).
Biology:	Occur in streams, rivers, muddy or silt-bottomed lakes (Ref. 5951); usually in permanent streams with continuous flow. Hide during the day in undercut banks and in deep pools near logs and boulders. Feed on larvae of Ephemeroptera, Odonata, Plecoptera, Coleoptera, Trichoptera, and Lepidoptera, as well as gastropods, oligochaetes, amphipods, isopods, mysids, and fish from the families Percidae, Cyprinidae, Ictaluridae, Catostomidae and Anguillidae (Ref. 9593). Migrate in autumn to the Sargasso Sea to spawn (Ref. 3242). Adults are caught with eel pots and trot lines. Elvers and glass eels are caught with fine mesh fyke nets and dipnets. Catadromous species. (Ref. 26938). Maximum depth reported taken from Ref. 57178
Threatened:	Not Evaluated, see IUCN Red List , (Ref. 36508)
Dangerous:	harmless
Coordinator:
Main Ref:	Page, L.M. and B.M. Burr. 1991. (Ref. 5723)
Update \| Add

Bahamas country information
Common names:	American eel	Ref: Böhlke, J.E. and C.C.G. Chaplin, 1993
Status:	native	Ref: Barton, M and C. Wilmhoff, 1996
Salinity:	freshwater, brackish, marine
Uses:	no uses
Comments:	Known from New Providence, Andros and the Exumas on the Great Bahama Bank. Also Ref. 7251, 26362.
Country Information:	www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/bf.html
National Fisheries Authority:	www.caricom-fisheries.com/bahamas-fisheries
Occurrences:	Occurrences Point map
Main Ref:	Böhlke, J.E. and C.C.G. Chaplin, 1993
Update

More information:

Countries

FAO areas

Occurrences

Introductions

Ecosystem

Ecology

Diet

Food items

Food consumption

Ration

Predators

Ciguatera

Fish loss

Common names

Synonyms

Pictures

Sounds

Reproduction

Maturity

Spawning

Eggs

Egg dev.

Larvae

Larval dynamics

References

Growth

L-W relationship

L-L relationship

Length frequencies

Recruitment

Max. age & size

Metabolism

Morphology

Morphometrics

Gill area

Brains

Vision

Collaborators

Genetics

Allele frequencies

Heritability

Strains

Aquaculture

Aquaculture profile

Diseases

Ecotoxicology

Processing

Speed

Swim. type

Stamps

Note: No data are available if label is black .

Tools:

Internet sources:

Note: use the Back button of your browser to return to FishBase.

Modified: Froese, Rainer

Entered: Carpenter, Kent E.

CGNET - US

Page created by: Eli, 20.10.03, last modified by Eli, 26.06.07

	Ref.:		Glossary
		(e.g. 9948)		(e.g. cephalopods)
ThisFishForum Comments & Corrections Sign our Guest Book
Back to Search