Eel
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| True eels | ||||||||
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 American eel, Anguilla rostrata
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Anguilloidei |
True eels are fish with long, narrow, snake-like bodies. Depending on their species, adult eels can be as short as 10 cm or as long as 3 m. Large eels can weigh up to 65 kg.
Eels have fewer fins than other fish. They are missing belly and chest fins. The back and anal fins are long, and usually connected to the tail fin. The fins do not have spines.
The shoulder bones are separate from the skull. The scales are smooth-edged or absent.
Eels hatch from eggs. Baby (larval) eels are flat and transparent (clear). They are called leptocephalus (Greek for "thin head"). A young eel is called an elver. For a long time people didn't know where eels came from, because baby eels look very different from adults. They thought the babies were a different species.
Most eels prefer to live in the shallowest parts of the ocean. They live at the bottom of the ocean, sometimes in holes. Eels in the Anguillidae family comes to fresh water to dwell there. Some eels live in the deep parts of the ocean instead. Eels in the Nemichthyidae family swim about 500 m below the ocean surface. Eels in the family Synaphobranchidae, live as deep as 4000 m below the surface.
Most eels are predators. They hunt their prey.
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[change] Taxonomy
True eels belong to the order, or group, Anguilliformes (Latin for "eel-shaped").
This order has 4 suborders, or groups that divide the order, called Anguilloidei, Nemichthyoidei, Congroidei, and Synaphobranchoidei.
The orders are divided into 19 families. The families are divided into 110 genera. The genera are then divided into species.
There are 400 species of eels in all.
[change] Uses for cooking
Freshwater eels (unagi) and marine eels (Conger eel, anago) are used a lot in Japanese food. Eels are used in Cantonese (Hong Kong) food and Shanghai food too.
The European eel and other eels that live in lakes are eaten in Europe, the United States, and other places around the world. A traditional London food is "jellied eels." The Basque meal, angulas, consists of deep-fried elvers.[1]
[change] Trivia
Hand netting is the only legal way of catching eels in England, and it has been done for thousands of years on the River Parrett and River Severn.
Eel skins are used in some wallets and purses.
There is a myth, or story that is believed by many, that wallets made out of Electric eels, which are not really eels, will demagnitize your credit cards, making them stop working. This is not true.
Some scientists think that the Loch Ness Monster might be a giant eel.
[change] References
- "Anguilliformes". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. January 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
