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American Eel fish identification, its habitats, characteristics, Fishing methods
American eels begin their lives as eggs hatching in the Sargasso Sea, a 2-million-square-mile warm-water
lens in the North Atlantic between the West Indies and the Azores. They take years to reach freshwater
streams where they mature, and then they return to their Sargasso Sea birth waters to spawn and die. Eels
do not become definitely male or female until they are 20-25 cm (8-10 in) long. Eels can absorb oxygen,
not only by gills, but through their skin and are known to travel over land, particularly in damp, rainy
weather. The American eel in Europe are considered to be a delicacy, especially when they are smoked or
jellied.
A combination of understanding the fish and the techniques used to catch them will help you to hook more
fish to the end of your line. Better knowing and understanding of the fish that you are trying to catch
will make you a more successful angler, whether you are fishing for trout on a river or surfing on the
beach or trolling on the open water.
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American Eel � Anguilla rostrata, also known as Anguille, yellow eel, black eel, green eel, glass
eel, silver eel, river eel, bronze eel, is a fish occurs in freshwater rivers and lakes, estuaries,
coastal areas and open ocean from the southern tip of Greenland, along the Atlantic coast of North
America, throughout the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, to Venezuela, and inland in the St.
Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes. The eel is an abundant resident of all tributaries to the
Chesapeake Bay in its yellow eel phase.
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Description
The American eel is a smooth and snake-like fish. Adults have greenish or yellowish-brown
coloring, a whitish belly, a rounded tail, a continuous fin stretching around the tail from the back to
the belly. Tiny, elliptical scales embedded in the skin. Eel has no pelvic fins, but has one long dorsal
fin that extends more than half of the body. Their head is rather long; eyes small and placed well forward
on head. Lips thick. The mouth has numerous small teeth. Caudal vertebrae without transverse processes.
Premaxillae not developed as distinct elements in adults. Frontal bones paired, not grown together. Adult
eels are very muscular, slimy and difficult to hold because they secrete a slime when they feel
threatened.
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Dorsal fin spines: 0.
Anal fin spines: 0.
Verterbrae 103-111.
Lower jaw longer than upper.
Caudal fin rounded, joined to dorsal and anal fins.
Pectoral girdle has 7 to 9 (up to 11) radial elements.
Maximum length 52 in (152 cm), average 1.5 ft (46 cm).
One small gill slit is in front of lower half of each pectoral fin.
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Coloration is variable with maturity level; the larval stage is called a glass eel. This stage is
transparent and leaf-shaped with a prominent black eye. The glass eel develops into elvers, a 2-4 inches
color from gray to greenish brown. The next stage, the yellow eel, is the adult form that lives in
freshwater; color ranges from yellow to olive-brown. Sexually mature adults, silver eels, are dark brown
and gray dorsally, with a silver to white ventral side. Large eyes are prominent in silver eels. Females
usually grow to about 3 to 5 feet long, while males are shorter, usually growing to about 2 feet long.
Identifying characteristics:
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Glass eel stage: transparent snake-like body, with pink gills and visible digestive tract.
Pointed head. Pectoral fins present. Size up to 4 inches in length
Elver stage: darker coloring (gray to greenish-brown); single gill slit in front of pectoral
fins. Size up to 3 feet in length
Yellow eel stage: yellowish- brown tinted skin; single gill slit in front of pectoral fins;
lower jaw protrudes beyond upper jaw. Size averaging 3 feet, with some specimens reaching 5 feet
(usually females).
Silver eel stage: grayish-brown skin on the back and silvery under parts; single gill slit in
front of pectoral fins; large eyes; robust body; lower jaw protrudes beyond upper jaw. Size the
same lengths as the Yellow eels, but weigh more.
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Habitat and Habits
Eels can be found in a wide range of habitats from rivers and streams to lakes and ponds,
estuaries and salt marshes, throughout the Bay watershed, from creeks and ponds to the deep, swift
channels of the Bay. In the post-elver stage they tend to be a solitary species that is more active at
night. During the day they will often hide under a rock or bury themselves in bottom sediments. Adults
usually live in fresh to salty rivers and streams, but some remain in the Bay's shallow waters.
Eels can also be found in waters where there are no inlets, because eels have been known to
cross wet ground in search of a resting place. It can tolerate a wide range of temperatures and can live
out of water for days if it stays moist and out of direct sun. American eels can absorb oxygen through
their skin as well as their gills, making it possible for them to travel over land, particularly in wet
grass or mud, which may help them move around barriers in streams.
The habitats required by this species include the open ocean for larvae, then the
continental shelf for the glass eel stage. Elvers can be found in a wide range of estuarine habitats,
often in submerged aquatic vegetation. Travel to estuaries and rivers seem to be random and can vary
annually. During harsh winters eels will move to deeper waters where they may burrow in the mud.
American eels are nocturnal, active at night. Its diet changes with its size and location.
Smaller eels will feed on benthic invertebrates, while larger eels feed on a variety of prey, including
worms, small fishes, clams, insects, frogs, crayfish, snails, and other mollusks, whose siphons sticking
out of the sediment look like worms, crustaceans, such as soft-shelled crabs. Eels eat anything it can
swallow, also will eat dead animal matter. Eels can move equally well and forcefully in any directions:
forward or backward, giving them the ability to pull, twist and spin to tear apart large prey.
Spawning
The American eel is the only catadromous species in the Gulf of Maine spend most of their
lives in fresh or brackish water but spawn in the ocean. Every fall sexually mature silver eels migrate to
Sargasso Sea in the western Atlantic Ocean east of the Bahamas and south of Bermuda for spawning, which
occurs in a winter. Mature females are producing as few as 400,000 eggs. The largest females produce
nearly 20 million eggs.
Eggs hatch into larvae called leptocephali, which are transparent and shaped like a willow
leaf. The larval stage may last for over a year, during which time the lar�vae grow as long as 2.4 inches
(60 mm) in length, drifting in the ocean�s currents and may be transported thousands of miles to reach the
freshwater streams.
Leptocephali metamorphose into a more recognizably eel-like form called glass eels, so named
because they clear in color.
Glass eels are generally 1.8-2.8 inches (45-70 mm) long. Glass eels feed little or not at all and actively
migrate across the continental shelf, swim toward coastal areas and move into estuaries and tidal river
reaches in late winter and early spring. Once they reach estuaries and tidal rivers, they begin to feed
and become pigmented, turns brownish, looking very much like a miniature adult and are known as elvers.
Elvers are 2.6-3.9 inches (65-100 mm) long; they swim up tidal rivers during flood tides and retreat to
the bottom as tides ebb, travel over obstacles like rocks or grass wet from rain.
Migration of glass eels and elvers toward the coast occurs mainly from April to July, though some will
migrate into early fall. Older juveniles are strong swimmers capable of ascending riv�ers and navigating
small barriers. It may take several years for eels to migrate up rivers, during which time they may travel
hundreds of miles.
The immature adult eel is called yellow eel and can remain in this stage for 5 to 20 years.
Young females ascend into freshwater where they may stay for 7-30 years as yellow eels. When they mature,
they migrate downstream to the ocean to become silver eels and join the males heading back to their
spawning grounds. The smaller males tend to stay in saltier water most of their life and can take up to 12
years to mature. Adults are thought to die after spawning.
Fishing Methods
The eel may be taken by the angler at the bottom with worms, loach gudgeon, bleak, minnows, a small
lamprey, the entrails of fish, flesh, or fowl, or, indeed, with almost anything; but it is generally
caught by nightlines, to which several hooks are attached, and which are cast into the water by a brick,
stone, or other weight being attached thereto, and the other end pegged into the bank, or tied to a branch
of a tree, or to a bunch of weeds on the water side. Sniggling is a plan successfully adopted for catching
eels in the daytime, when they creep into holes in the bank or woodwork, or under stones, or logs of wood.
It is practiced by baiting a small hook or stout needle bound to the line for half of its length only with
a worm, and presenting it at the entrance of the hole, or at the edge of the stone or log by the aid of a
bent rod; the eel takes the bait, and the angler holds the line taut until his prey, gradually relaxing
its adhesion to the shelter, is drawn out. Bobbing also is practiced by first string - a quantity of large
lob worms upon worsted, attaching them to a bell-shaped piece of lead, sufficiently large to readily sink
them; the lead and worms are secured to a pole of sufficient length, say twelve or fourteen feet long, by
a piece of stout cord.
The age of water is an important consideration. Eels are a very slow growing fish, and can
take 10yrs to grow 1lb in weight, so, in general, look for the older waters. Look for any form of
underwater feature such as gravel bars, plateaus and shallows. Also look for snaggy areas such as tree
roots along islands, sunken bushes and, if you are fishing a river or canal, look for bridges and
viaducts, as these areas often hold many snags which provide an ambush point for big eels. Once an area
has been located, you can either pre-bait for the eel using a mixture of old fish, maggots, chopped worms
and, if allowed, chicken offal, or just go for it. Big eels are thought to be territorial, and often a big
fish will come out on one of the first visits to a particular swim. If none are caught after three trips,
move to another part of the water and start the process again of pre-baiting. Rods should be capable of
both casting small deadbaits and worms great distances and be able to cope with setting the hooks at a
distance - there are no self hooking rigs in eel fishing. Eels do not tolerate resistance, so
unfortunately you will not be able to use those nice carp swingers, as the eel will drop the bait as soon
as it feels the line pull out of the clip.
Always fish with an open spool and not with the baitrunner left on, as this causes
resistance and the eel will drop the bait. It takes various baits, as worms, small dead fish, which are
the best for it, and takes them better when they are still than when moving. Thus, night-lines are the
best way of capturing the eel. Occasionally float tackle is used for the purpose, when the roughest
tackle, with a float-hook and worm, suffices.
Sniggling for eels is an amusing way of taking them. A stout needle, lashed to a long
string, is concealed in a worm; the point of the needle is stuck lightly in the end of a long stick. This
is then introduced into the mouth of a hole in which an eel is supposed to shelter. As soon as the eel
sees it he secures it, pulls it from the stick, and devours it. The string is lashed to the middle of the
needle, so that when the angler pulls at it the needle turns crosswise in his gullet. The angler pulls
with a steady strain at the line, until at last the eel, unable to resist longer, comes out and is caught.
Clotting for eels, by means of a big bunch of worms strung upon worsted and gathered up into festoons, is
another way. The eels entangle their teeth in the worsted, and are lifted out and dropped into a pail.
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