Facts, Information, Scientific Name of Eel
A slender fish that has a long life cycle.
Common name- Eel, Ray-finned Fish.
Scientific name- Anguilliformes
There are 800 species of Eel found. The types of Eel fish are Electric eels, Spiny eels, Swamp eels, and Deep sea spiny eels.
Size- 5cm- 4cm
Habitat- Eel lives in both Fresh waters & Sea waters. In the ocean, the Eels live in burrowed sand.
Appearance-
Some Eel species are nocturnal. They are slender large-length fishes.
They have no pelvic or pectoral fins. The dorsal fin (back fin) and Anal (the fin on the anus) form a caudal fin, which is a Tail fin.
Eels can swim backwards. They swim by generating waves.
The Eels that live together are called ‘Eel pits’.
Food-
Smaller fishes, invertebrates, crustaceans, shrimps, sea urchins, etc.
Lifecycle-
Breeding age eel prefers fresh water for laying eggs. Female releases millions of eggs and they are later fertilized by Males. This type of breeding is called ‘Spawning’.
The small larvae release from eggs. They are called “Leptochepali’
Lepto- leaf and cephalic- head. The larvae have a leaf-shaped body.
This leaf-shaped body later metamorphoses into a Glass eel. Glass eel is a transparent form.
Glass eels travel to rivers. Later they are grown into a Juvenile form called ‘Elvers’.
The transformation takes almost 30 years.
Elvers are also called ‘Yellow Eels’ that have yellow pigment bodies. Silver eels are also in the puberty form which has a Silver belly.
Also See ⇒ Goonch Fish