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Eels

Anguilliformes

Eels (order Anguilliformes) are the 800+ species of elongated, mostly scaleless teleost fishes that include freshwater eels, conger eels, and moray eels. Eels typically have a continuous dorsal–anal–caudal fin around the tail tip and lack pelvic fins; pectoral fins are reduced or absent in some families. They inhabit in marine, brackish, and freshwater environments, from coastal shallows to considerable ocean depths, and at maturity range from about 10 cm (4 in) to roughly 3.5 m (11.5 ft) in the largest morays. Many eels are solitary and hide in crevices or burrow in sand/mud; a notable exception is garden eels, which form dense colonies of burrows. Eel reproduction has baffled scientists for decades, although it’s theorized that European eels migrate to and reproduce in the Sargasso Sea, in the far west of the North Atlantic.

Eels (order Anguilliformes) are the 800+ species of elongated, mostly scaleless teleost fishes that include freshwater eels, conger eels, and moray eels. Eels typically have a continuous dorsal–anal–caudal fin around the tail tip and lack pelvic fins; pectoral fins are reduced or absent in some families. They inhabit in marine, brackish, and freshwater environments, from coastal shallows to considerable ocean depths, and at maturity range from about 10 cm (4 in) to roughly 3.5 m (11.5 ft) in the largest morays. Many eels are solitary and hide in crevices or burrow in sand/mud; a notable exception is garden eels, which form dense colonies of burrows. Eel reproduction has baffled scientists for decades, although it’s theorized that European eels migrate to and reproduce in the Sargasso Sea, in the far west of the North Atlantic.