Eel

From Free net encyclopedia

For other uses, see Eel (disambiguation).

{{Taxobox | color = pink | name = True eels | image = anguillarostratakils.jpg | image_width = 260px | image_caption = American eel, Anguilla rostrata | regnum = Animalia | phylum = Chordata | classis = Actinopterygii | ordo = Anguilliformes | subdivision_ranks = Suborders | subdivision = Anguilloidei
Nemichthyoidei
Congroidei
Synaphobranchoidei
See text for families. }} True eels are fish of the order Anguilliformes, which consists of 4 suborders, 19 families, 110 genera and 400 species. Most eels are predators.

The flat and transparent larva of the eel is called a leptocephalus. A young eel is called an elver.

Most eels prefer to dwell in shallow waters, hide at the bottom layer of the ocean, sometimes in holes. Only the Anguillidae family comes to fresh water to dwell there (not to breed). Some eels dwell in deep water (in case of family Synaphobranchidae, this comes to a depth of 4,000 m), or are active swimmers (the family Nemichthyidae - to the depth of 500 m).

1 Biology
2 Use by humans
3 Trivia
4 Classification
5 See also
6 References

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Biology

Depending on their species, eels can reach from 10 cm to 3 m, and weigh up to 65 kg. The number of rays of the gill webbing ranges from 6 to 51, though sometimes they are absent altogether. Their fins are always spineless. The back and anal fins are long, usually connecting with the tail fin. The belly and chest fins are absent. The shoulder girdle is separate from the skull. The scales are cycloid or absent.

The life cycle of the eel was a mystery for a very long time, because larval eels look very different from adult eels, and were thought to be a separate species. See eel life history.

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Use by humans

Freshwater eels (unagi) and marine eels (Conger eel, anago) are commonly used in Japanese cuisine. Eels are used in Cantonese and Shanghai cuisine too. The European eel and other freshwater eels are eaten in Europe, the United States, and other places around the world. A traditional London food is jellied eels. The Basque delicacy, angulas, consists of deep-fried elvers.[1]

Uniquely in Europe, hand netting is the only legal way of catching eels in England, and has been practiced for thousands of years on the River Parrett and River Severn.

Eel skins are used in some wallets and purses.

There is an urban legend that wallets made out of electric eels, which are not true eels, will demagnitize your credit cards. This is not true.

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Trivia

In recent years, some cryptozoologists have theorised that the Loch Ness Monster might be a giant eel.

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Classification

Image:Eel.JPG Image:Rostrata.jpg Image:FH000014.jpg

This classification follows FishBase in dividing the eels into fifteen families. Additional families that are included in other classifications (notably ITIS and Systema Naturae 2000) are noted below the family with which they are synomized in the FishBase system.

Suborder Anguilloidei

Suborder Nemichthyoidei

Suborder Congroidei

Colocongridae
Congridae (congers)
- Including Macrocephenchelyidae
Muraenesocidae (conger pikes)
Nettastomatidae (witch eels)
Derichthyidae (longneck eels)
- Including Nessorhamphidae
Ophichthidae (snake eels)

Suborder Synaphobranchoidei

Synaphobranchidae (cutthroat eels)
- Including Simenchelyidae, Nettodaridae, and Dysommidae

In some classifications the family Cyematidae of bobtail snipe eels is included in the Anguilliformes, but in the FishBase system that family is included in the order Saccopharyngiformes.

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