River eel. Eel - Fish Encyclopedia

The common, river or European eel (lat. Anguilla anguilla) is a predatory freshwater fish from the family of river eels.

The eel has a long, snake-like body. The fish resembles these reptiles so much in appearance that in many parts of Russia it is not even considered a fish. And it’s completely in vain, eel meat is very revered by gourmets in some countries.

The eel's body is cylindrical, and only the tail is slightly compressed from the sides. The head is small, slightly flattened in the front. The eyes are small and silver-yellow in color.

Nose different types eels vary in width. The lower jaw is slightly longer than the upper. Both jaws, as well as the papillae bone, are lined with sharp small teeth. The gill openings do not completely cover the gill cavity; they are very narrow and set back quite far from the back of the head.

The eel has very long dorsal and anal fins that merge with the caudal fin. This way, you get one common, continuous fin that stretches across the entire back of the fish. The fin rays, covered with thick skin, are very soft and therefore difficult to distinguish. At first it seems that the eel has no scales at all, like many other types of fish. But this is a misconception - the scales of this fish are simply very small, oblong, arranged in a chaotic manner. They are very tender, and the eel’s body is covered with a thick layer of mucus, which gives the impression that the eel is “naked.”

The color of the back of eels varies; depending on the subspecies, it can be either brown-green or bluish-black. The abdominal part is colored either yellowish-white or bluish-gray.

The eel is found in the basins of the Baltic, Mediterranean and German seas. It can also be found, although less frequently, in the reservoirs of the Black, White, Azov, Barents seas. Eel also lives in some lakes, namely Ladoga, Onega and Chudskoye.

The eel apparently entered the rivers of the Black and Caspian Seas recently, presumably through canals from the reservoirs of the Baltic basin. It is found here very rarely; only a few individuals reach the Volga, but do not breed there. Local residents confuse these traveler eels with river lampreys (outwardly these fish species are very similar). Along the main channel of the Volga, eels even reach Saratov, but it is unlikely that they pass this way to the Caspian Sea. But in some rivers that flow into the Volga in its upper reaches, eels are found more often, probably getting into them from lakes.

Eel is a fish that is considered a delicacy in some countries.

The same traveling eels are occasionally found in the Dnieper, Danube and Dniester. Even in the last century, zoologists found some individuals in the left tributary of the Desna. Most likely, eels came to the Dnieper from the Neman through swamps called Pinsk. In general, the upper reaches of the Baltic and Black Sea basins are located nearby and are connected by numerous channels through which fish can migrate.

It happened that Kyiv fishermen found eels in the stomachs of caught catfish, which means that eels must be found nearby: either in the Dnieper or in Pripyat. Mogilev fishermen told zoologists that they met these fish in the Dniester. And in the 70s of the last century, eels were already caught in the Sea of ​​Azov near the village of Petrovskaya.

But eels were released into the Danube on purpose. Representatives of the fishing society of Galati (a city and port in eastern Romania) launched more than half a million young eels into the Danube. Zoologists believe that eels are quite capable of acclimatizing and living in this area. But for spawning they will most likely go to sea downstream of the Danube.

As professor of zoology Karl Kessler writes, the river eel is not exactly a freshwater fish; it can rather be called an anadromous one. Because she does not spend her entire life in river water and periodically goes to the sea. But there is a significant difference between the eel and other migratory fish. Basically, such fish grow in the sea and from there they rise upstream in rivers to spawn. The eel, on the contrary, grows in rivers and goes downstream into the sea to reproduce. Nothing can stop the eel on its journey - it overcomes rapids and waterfalls with ease.

According to the professor, even the very high Nara Falls, inaccessible, for example, to salmon, is not an obstacle for the eel. True, scientists do not yet know for certain how the eel overcomes waterfalls, because unlike salmon, it is not capable of jumping out of the water. “In all likelihood, he bypasses them, crawling over wet coastal rocks,” the zoologist writes about his assumptions, “it is at least true that he can very deftly reptile on wet ground and can live out of water for up to half a day or more. The reason for the survivability of the eel out of water is that the gill leaves, due to the elongated shape of the gill cavity and the narrowness of the gill openings, remain moist for a very long time, capable of supporting the respiration process.”

The eel tries to avoid rivers with sandy and rocky soil at the bottom. But favorite place its habitats are rivers with clay and silty soil and an abundance of mud. In summer, most often the eel can be found between sedges and reeds, where it especially likes to be. For example, one of the places where eels are successfully caught is the reeds of the southern coast of Kronstatt Bay.

In order to catch eels, fishermen make paths in the reeds on which they place special “merezha” traps. Fishermen here distinguish between two types of these fish: walking or sedentary. Resident eels are also called “herbal eels.” Eel is a nocturnal fish. During the day he simply lies quietly in the reeds, but at night he goes out fishing. By the way, in winter the fish also remains motionless and buries itself in the mud, sometimes to a depth of more than 40 centimeters.

Eel is a carnivorous fish.

The eel is carnivorous, feeding on both other fish and their eggs. This fish does not disdain small living creatures that live in the mud: various larvae, worms, crustaceans, snails. As for the fish that the eel feeds on, these are mainly species that, like the eel, live at the bottom of reservoirs - lampreys and sculpins. If the eel comes across a fish of other species in its field of vision, it will not refuse it either, so sometimes it gets caught in the nets, the hooks of which are baited by fishermen with small fish. But the real feast begins for eels in spring and early summer, when carp fish begin to spawn. The eel eats it in huge quantities. At the end of summer and autumn, when there are no more caviar to feast on, eels eat mainly crustaceans of the species “Idothea entomon”, or as fishermen call them, “sea cockroaches”.

On the ground, the eel moves completely freely, both forward and backward - in the direction where it is most likely to hide. At the same time, he moves like a snake, deftly wriggling his long body. Killing a caught eel is also quite a difficult task, since those wounds that could easily put a fish of another species to sleep are often not fatal for an eel. So the eel is amazingly tenacious, except that a fracture of the spinal column leads to a more or less rapid death of this fish. Surprisingly, even the muscles of cut pieces of eel continue to contract for some time. Thus, it was noted that the jaws of the eel in the already severed head made movements for a quarter of an hour. There is an opinion that an eel can be killed by placing it in salt water. But nothing like this - even in strong saline solution The eel lives for about a couple more hours.

The uniqueness of its behavior has long attracted the attention of naturalists and biologists. Also, the eel has more than once become the object of experiments. So, for example, interesting observations of eels were recorded by O. Terletsky. The scientist observed the habits of eels in the Western Dvina basin, where the eel lives in many lakes, from which it passes through rivers, streams, and sometimes even over land. big rivers, and then goes to spawn in the sea. Eels begin their “great” campaign in May and “go” all summer (those eels that have not reached sexual maturity remain in lakes and rivers). If the river flows “as usual,” the eel moves at depth, trying to move through muddy or grassy areas. When the water level rises significantly, eels stay in coastal pools. At the same time, they hunt at night, moving further and further on the way to the sea, and during the day they sleep, buried in the mud, in silt, or hiding under stones or snags.

Terletsky, with the help of experiments, was able to prove that eels are capable of moving from reservoir to reservoir, sometimes even overland - if there is no other way. Moreover, they crawl over quite significant distances - half a kilometer or even more. Terletsky kept the eels in a separate pool on a stream, and then carried them a considerable distance from their habitat, released them and observed their behavior. The experiments were carried out at night and also at dawn, when the soil was still wet. At first the eels crawled into different directions, but very soon instinct turned them in the direction they needed to survive - towards the river. The eels crawled quite quickly, wriggling like snakes, exclusively straight towards the target, only occasionally turning out of the way to avoid an obstacle in the form of a piece of land with sand or not covered with grass. When they got to the slope leading to the water, they accelerated, trying to quickly get to their native element. Thus, it was proven that the eel can remain out of water for three or even more hours in the warm season. Its transition to water over land can even last all night, especially if heavy dew has fallen.

Reproduction and development of eel

Until recently, eel reproduction remained a mystery shrouded in darkness for scientists. And even today this side of the life of eels has not yet been fully explored. This is due to the fact that in order to procreate, fish of this species go to sea. The Danish ichthyologist I. Schmidt and other researchers managed to shed light on this process only recently, in the 20s of the last century. So scientists have found that for reproduction, eels look for places in the sea with a temperature of 16-17 degrees. One female lays up to 500 thousand eggs, about 1 millimeter in size, and then dies. After some time, eel larvae emerge from the eggs, resembling a willow leaf in appearance. Only the black eyes of the larvae are clearly visible on the translucent body, thus making them less noticeable to predators. It is worth noting that eel larvae generally for a long time were considered a separate species of fish - they are so different from adult individuals. When these small eels reach about 8 centimeters in length, they stop feeding, decrease in size by a couple of centimeters and enter a new stage of development. Such a grown fry received the name “glass eel” from zoologists. It is still transparent, but is already acquiring a specific snake-like body shape. At this time, small eels begin their journey to the mouths of rivers, move further along them, gradually acquiring adult coloration.

Eel is a fish that grows very slowly.

The eel grows very slowly, reaching a meter in length only by the fifth or sixth year of life. There are individuals 180 centimeters long and thicker than human hand. With a length of a meter, the eel weighs about one and a half kilograms, and the largest specimens can reach a weight of eight kilograms.

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Eel is unusual river fish, quite rare. Since 2008, it has been included in the Red Book, as it is practically on the verge of extinction. It doesn't look like a common type of fish. Inexperienced fishermen may mistake it for a snake. The body is long, cylindrical, the skin is slippery with very small scales. The head is large, slightly flat on top. Grows up to 1.5 meters long, weighing up to 6 kg.

Where does the river eel live and what does it eat?

The eel is a migratory fish and spends almost all its time in fresh river water. Spawning occurs in the sea. It feeds on frogs, insect larvae, and small fish. It is surprising that the eel goes to spawn 8,000 km from its habitat, into the Sargasso Sea. The larvae are transparent, small on the surface of the water with the Gulf Stream in three years, swim to the shores of Europe, come to the mouths of rivers and rise upstream. They live in rivers for about 9-12 years, then migrate again to the spawning site, spawn and die. The migration route was only proven in 2016. That's how much it is little-studied fish. They live during the feeding period in the rivers of Europe in the Baltic Sea basin and in small numbers in the rivers of the Black, Caspian, Barents, White Sea. One more amazing feature is the ability to move without water overland from one body of water to another, thus settling in closed lakes.

Where to look for eels in a pond?

The eel prefers to stay in quiet places, near the bottom, in snags, grass thickets, and in burrows. This nocturnal predator, you need to be very well prepared to catch it. It is advisable to have a flashlight and newspapers with you so that you can wrap the eel in them, otherwise it will quickly slip out, study the area well, because in the dark it is difficult to hold and not lose a squirming eel.

Eel baits

The eel is practically omnivorous, so you can catch it with a variety of baits, from a crawling worm to peas, cheese, and beans. It also bites well on pieces of fish.

How to catch an eel in a pond

Eels begin to bite in the spring, when the water warms up to +10 degrees. At this time, it bites best on all types of worms, leeches and insect larvae. The most active bites are from evening to midnight. It is advisable to first give a good bait. In summer, eels are best caught on fish, in autumn only on small fish like sculpin and ruff. The weather for fishing is optimal without dew and fog, in warm, stuffy weather, at low atmospheric pressure. The eel's eyesight is very good; it will find bait even in the twilight.

Fishing is done on a bottom with a double or triple hook; the fishing line (from 0.35 mm) and the rod must be strong. The eel practically does not get tired, it is impossible to torture it, it is more likely to be missed or the gear damaged. Donka can be fished with or without a float.

They usually cast several fishing rods at once and let the bait sink to the bottom. When the eel grabs the bait, it can move in an arc back to its original place. The float dances a lot when bitten. It is best to pull it out using a good large landing net immersed in water. And immediately quickly pull it ashore or onto the boat with a light tug. And it’s also not easy to put an eel into a fish tank; it wriggles like a snake and can easily escape. The cage should have a fine wire mesh to prevent the eel from escaping. If the cells are large, he will find a way out with his tail.

If you are fishing from the shore, newspapers will come in handy; you should immediately wrap the eel in it so that you can hold it in your hands, otherwise it will slip out and quickly crawl back into the water.

Occasionally, an eel can rise to the upper layers, then it can be accidentally caught on a fishing rod with a float. In such cases, you can try catching it with green peas.

Eel fishing video

If fishing is in places with strong currents

Be sure to use a heavy sinker that allows the bait to stay in place.

The eel often completely swallows the hooked bait and is difficult to remove from its mouth. Therefore you need to have with you good stock hooks, tie a new one, and remove the remaining one from the fish’s mouth at home.

There are several other types of fishing that are used less frequently: without a hook, with a needle, in a plumb line. Let's focus on the most unusual - fishing with a needle. This is an old Scottish method for catching eels from holes. Of course, you need to know where the holes dug by water rats are. The fact that an eel is hiding in the hole will be visible from a small cloud of muddy silt at the entrance to the hole.

They take a stick and stick a needle with a worm into the top. A strong fishing line is tied to a stick, and the stick is carefully lowered into the water in front of the hole. The fish grabs the prey, and the stick with the needle gets stuck in its mouth. The fisherman must pull the stick along the line along with the eel.
Eel - very delicious fish. It is especially good when smoked, so take the time to catch it.

Representatives of the river eel family are freshwater fish, however, they are most likely an anadromous species, since they spawn near the seas, descending to them from rivers. After spawning, eels die, and before that they grow and develop for about 10 years in various fresh water bodies - rivers and lakes.

Description of the river eel

The river eel has an almost cylindrical body, which is laterally compressed and has no pelvic fins. common to most fish. In addition, they do not have spiny rays. The eel's head is relatively small, with a noticeably elongated lower jaw and small, blunt teeth. The river eel has rounded pectoral fins, as well as the dorsal one - which, however, begins somewhat closer to the vertical drawn through the anus than to the one that passes through the gill covers. The eel's body is covered with small scales that are embedded in the skin.

The river eel is characterized by external signs, thanks to which it is easy to distinguish it from other representatives of freshwater: a long wriggling body, somewhat reminiscent of a snake, often reaches 2 meters in length and 4 kilograms in weight. On the back it is colored brownish-greenish, and on the abdominal part and sides it has a yellowish tint. The eel's head is peculiarly flattened (closer to the elongated nose). Very long fins - anal and dorsal - merge together with the tail into one large continuous fin that borders the entire back of the eel. The body itself is entirely covered with a thick layer of special mucus, under which small, elongated scales are hidden.

Eel habitats

The natural habitats of the river eel are, based on its name, rivers - the Northern, Mediterranean and Baltic seas, as well as reservoirs of the Barents, White, Black and Azov seas. In addition, the river eel has been acclimatized in many lakes and rivers located in the European part of Russia. In addition, the eel is an inhabitant of both freshwater, river and sea ​​water China and Japan.

Where does the eel live?

Reservoirs inhabited by river eels have a muddy or clayey bottom. The river eel prefers to swim in free spaces between reeds, sedges, and reeds and has an ability rare for freshwater: thanks to the serpentine structure of its body, the eel crawls along wet grass from one body of water to another. That is why it is often river dweller can be seen even in stagnant and closed lakes.

Eel sizes

The river eel most often grows slowly, compared to other aquatic inhabitants. The length of male eels in most cases does not exceed fifty centimeters, females - one meter (there have been cases when female river eels reached two meters in length). Average weight of this river inhabitant is 4-6 kilograms, less often – more (the officially registered maximum is 12.7 kg). In approximately 6-8 years, eel reaches its marketable weight - 500 grams.

Habits of the eel

The river eel is on the move only at night. Like all nocturnal fish, it has a fairly well-developed sense of smell. The eel cannot be called completely freshwater fish– he’s more of a passer-by. This is due to the fact that the river eel periodically leaves fresh waters to enter the sea. However, there is an important difference between the eel and other migratory fish: the latter grow in the salty waters of the sea and rise from there only up rivers to spawn. The eel spends the first part of its life in freshwater conditions and only then does it descend into the sea down rivers to spawn.

At the same time, no obstacles can stop the eel: neither waterfalls nor rapids. It is even known that the high Nevsky Falls, which is an impassable barrier for salmon, does not pose an obstacle for the eel. Being unadapted to jumping from great heights, the fish bypasses waterfalls in a roundabout way, crawling over wet coastal rocks. This is facilitated by the ability of the river eel to do without water for more than half a day. The fact is that, thanks to the reduced gill openings and the elongated shape of the gill cavity, it is able to support the breathing process and remain moist.

What does eel eat?

Being a predator, the river eel goes hunting mainly in the dark. The main food of the river eel is fish roe. At the beginning of summer and spring, when almost all representatives of cyprinids spawn, the eel prefers to feed only on it. The diet of the river eel also includes any fish, various small animals hiding in the mud (newts, frogs), as well as snails, larvae, worms, crustaceans, etc. As prey, the river eel most often gets fish such as lampreys and sculpin, that is, those that, like itself, stick to the bottom of the reservoir. However, the eel can eat any fish it catches.

Eel Spawning

Often, river eel spawns at a distance of 8 thousand kilometers from feeding grounds, at a depth of four hundred meters under water Sargasso Sea, Where average temperature is 16-17 degrees Celsius. After this, the eel dies (in the European zone, the seas in whose basin it lives sometimes serve as spawning grounds).

River eel eggs reach a size of one millimeter, and a single female can spawn half a million or more of them. In the larval stage, the eel's body resembles a reduced willow leaf. From this moment the development of fish begins. The eel larva is flattened, translucent and has black eyes. It is so different from the adult that for some time it was mistaken for a separate species of fish. Since then, it has had its own name - leptocephalus. When it floats to the surface of the reservoir, it is picked up by the Gulf Stream and carried for three years along with water mass to the European coast. When approaching them, the eel larva already reaches 1 cm in height and 8 cm in length.

Later, the eel larva temporarily stops feeding and shortens to five to six centimeters, turning into a glass eel, which is still transparent, but its body is already snake-like and oval on the sides. In this form, the eel approaches river mouths. When the time comes to move upstream, the eel fish becomes opaque, which marks its maturation. As it matures further in fresh water the former larva passes into the silver eel stage (walking or sedating).

>An adult river eel lives in rivers for about 9-12 years, after which it migrates to spawn. At this time, the color of the eel’s back becomes darker, and its belly and sides become silvery. It is at this time that one can easily distinguish a female river eel from a male.

The eel family includes several species of fish. They are not very different from each other in appearance. The difference lies in the habitats. The most common species is the river eel.

The common European eel can be blunt-nosed or narrow-headed. The fish is predatory, not fully studied. External description eel:

• Long serpentine body;
• The front part is rounded;
• The part of the body from the anal zone to the tail is slightly flattened on the sides;
• The skin is slippery and covered with mucus;
• Caudal, dorsal and anal fins fused;
• Small head with small eyes;
• No pelvic fins;
• The pectoral fins are wide;
• Small mouth with protruding lower jaw.
• The teeth are small and sharp, arranged in several rows.
• The number of vertebrae is from 111 to 119.

There are scales, but they are very small and almost invisible. Fish are rarely larger than 2 meters. Average length river type about 1 meter. Females are usually 5-10 centimeters longer than males. Weight in mature age from 500 grams to 6 kilograms. Depending on how many years a fish lives, its weight also depends.

The color on the back varies from gray-brown to dark green. The belly is always lighter. Its color can be yellow, silvery white or yellowish white. Adults are distinguished by a more saturated color of the back and a lighter belly.

Photo 1. Eel in its native element.

Habitat

Eel is ancient fish, which appeared on Earth more than 100 million years ago in the ocean, off the coast of Indonesia. It was sea ​​view. Now she lives in the seas, rivers, lakes. But rivers are intermediate places of stay. River or European eels live in river basins connected to the seas:

• Barentsevo;
• White;
• Mediterranean;
• Baltic;
• Azovskoe;
• Northern;
• Black.

They are also part of the ichthyofauna of many lakes and ponds located in the European part of Russia. The most large number This fish lives in the basins of the Baltic Sea.

Where it's found river view, the bottom is usually covered with mud or clay. The fish loves to live among thickets of reeds or reeds. One of the features of the river eel is the ability to crawl from one body of water to another on land. This is how it ends up in drainless lakes. The skin, which is able to absorb oxygen, helps it survive for some time without water.

The fish lives in calm waters, but is sometimes found in fast-flowing waters. The animal prefers to swim in the lower layers of the water, likes to hide in various bottom shelters: algae, boulders, burrows, snags. European look belongs to freshwater fish.

Reproduction

For a long time, how these animals reproduce remained a mystery. No one has seen their eggs. And only at the end of the 19th century scientists proved that they reproduce like all other fish. But their eggs are so different from their parents that for some time they were considered a separate species of fish. They were given the name Leptocephalus.

Reproduction of adult eels occurs at 7-9 years of age. During this period, sexual differences between males and females appear. They go to sea to spawn. In accumulations of Sargassum algae at a depth of 400 meters and at a water temperature of +14 - +18 degrees, fish begin to reproduce. Females lay more caviar, on average up to 500,000 larvae. When the eel stops spawning, it dies.

The eggs are no larger than 1 millimeter in size. The eel larva is absolutely transparent, shaped like a leaf compressed from the sides. Before they transform into full-fledged fish, the larvae go through several stages:

1. Float to the surface and are picked up warm current moving towards the shores of Europe. This period lasts about three years. Their annual growth is insignificant.
2. Having reached a size of 7 centimeters, the larvae decrease by 1 centimeter and form glass eels.
3. The fish take on an oval, snake-like shape, but remain translucent.
4. In this form, they approach the mouths of rivers, and, moving upstream, they lose their transparency, acquire color, and the young eel becomes an adult.

Photo 2. Glass eel.

Once a glass eel becomes an adult, it can live for another 9-15 years. Then they return to the sea to spawn and inevitably die.

Features of behavior

Eel - predatory fish. He leads night look life. Young eels live near the shore, adults go deep to the bottom and burrow into the ground during the day. They can go underground up to 80 centimeters. Fish avoid places with rocky bottoms. They like muddy or cluttered bottoms to hide in.

As night approaches, eels come out of their shelters and go in search of food. They can swim to coastal zone, swim into thickets of aquatic plants. Animals move like snakes, slowly. They crawl on the ground only if it is wet and for short distances. Eels have poor vision, but they have an excellent sense of smell. They can smell their prey from tens of meters away and can navigate in complete darkness.

The river species lives in water saturated with oxygen. From mid-spring until the first frost they lead an active lifestyle. But as soon as the cold comes and the water temperature drops, they stop feeding. In winter, eels fall into a motionless state and look like frozen snags sticking out of the ground. These are their heads, and the rest of the body is buried. In the spring they become more active and begin to eat away over the long winter period.

The main diet of eels includes:

• small fish;
• caviar of other fish;
• frogs;
• snails;
• shellfish;
• larvae;
• newts.

Large concentrations of eels can be found in reservoirs where pike and tench are found. They love to feast on these fish. There are a lot of them in the habitats of vendace. They prefer carp caviar. After spending about 5 years in a reservoir, the predator acquires the skills of hunting from an ambush and eats prey at the bottom: perch, smelt, ruffe, roach and other small fish.

Photo 3. The eel, like a snake, is able to move on land.

Lures and fishing equipment

Understanding what to catch an eel with is not difficult, given that it is a predator. Small fish, worms, pieces of meat can serve as bait. Small fish are good if you are fishing for eels using a bottom line. It is better to use many worms at once, or it should be one big worm. The bite will be better for one large worm.

This fish is very resourceful and dexterous. It has the ability to cling to branches and other objects at the bottom. Not a single fish knows how to resist, backing away and wriggling in the water, like a snake. Since catching this animal is not an easy task, it is important to prepare strong gear. The rod must withstand a weight of up to 40 kilograms, and its length must be at least 3-4 meters.

A caught predator will not gnaw through a fishing line, but it can grind thin tackle sharp teeth while trying to break away. It is impossible to pull out a caught fish by hand; a large landing net is used for this. The tail should not hang out of the landing net when taken, otherwise the eel will twist and escape. The fish is removed from the hook only before it is transferred to the net. It should be kept in a fine, strong mesh. If there is at least one hole or damage of medium diameter in it, the eel can easily escape.

The eel family consists of several species. In appearance, their differences are insignificant. Their difference mainly lies in their habitat. The most famous representative This family is considered to be the river eel. In many countries, this species of the eel family is considered a delicacy. But due to the unappetizing appearance of the eel, not everyone will agree to taste it. But in vain, since it contains a huge amount of useful minerals and proteins that can strengthen human immunity.

Description

In appearance, the river eel can be narrow-headed and blunt-snouted. Fish belongs to the family of predators. Unfortunately, this fish has not been fully studied. The river eel is characterized by:

The river eel has small scales on its body. Their size is so small that they are almost invisible . IN exceptional cases body length fish can exceed 2 meters. As a rule, the standard body length of a fish is 1 meter. Females are slightly longer than males. Usually 5–10 centimeters. The weight of mature fish can reach 6 kilograms. The river eel gains weight throughout its life. Therefore, it is generally accepted that the older the fish, the more it weighs.

River eels have a predominantly dark green back. There are individuals with a brownish tint. The belly area is always light. As they reach maturity, individuals acquire a more saturated color on their backs, and their bellies become lighter.

Do not forget that in addition to the river eel, there is also a sea eel. What distinguishes him from his brother is larger size. Its weight can reach 100 kilograms, and its body length can be more than 3 meters. Just like its river brother, sea ​​predator, an elongated body that is completely devoid of scales. As a rule, the head, with thick lips, is slightly wider than the end of the body. Almost all individuals of this species have a brown back. Light belly when hit sunlight, reflected with a golden glow. There is a dark colored line on the tail of the conger eel, giving the conger eel a distinctive outline. It is worth noting that the tail is much lighter than the entire body.

Habitat

This predatory fish appeared more than 100 million years ago in the vast ocean near Indonesia. Initially, the eel was exclusively a marine fish. But over time, the eel began to spread throughout the world and began to live in rivers and lakes. By their specificity, rivers are considered an intermediate habitat. River eels, as well as marine ones, are mainly distributed in rivers that flow into the following seas:

Besides listed seas, eels are located in many lakes and ponds. Largest number individuals live in the Baltic Sea.

River eel fish can be found in reservoirs With a large number mud. The most favorite habitat is an area overgrown with reeds. The fish have unique ability: it is capable of crawling overland from one body of water to another. Thus, the eel can reach the closed lake. The fish feels great out of water due to its skin, which can absorb oxygen.

The fish mainly live in bodies of water with a small current, but sometimes they can be found in fast-flowing rivers. The eel prefers swimming in the lower areas of water bodies.

Reproduction

For a long time, the process of reproduction of these animals was a mystery to everyone. No one has ever seen what their caviar looks like. But, at the end of the nineteenth century, scientists proved that the process of their reproduction occurs in exactly the same way as in all other fish. Appearance eggs are significantly different from their parents. Therefore, for some time they were considered a separate species and even gave it a name - leptocephalus.

The fertilization period begins at the 9th year of life of individuals. It is at this time that a male can be distinguished from a female. Fish go to the sea to spawn. In thickets of Sargassum algae, descending to a depth of 400 meters, the reproduction process begins. It is worth noting that the water temperature for the fertilization process should not be less than 14 degrees and not exceed 18 degrees. Basically, the female lays 500 thousand larvae. After the end of spawning, the eel dies.

The size of the eggs does not exceed 1 millimeter. The body of the larva is completely transparent. Its shape resembles a leaf compressed on the sides. To become a full-fledged fish, the larva must go through several stages:

After the larva has become a full-fledged fish, it lives for a maximum of 15 years. After which it leaves for spawning, where inevitable death awaits it.

Characteristic behavioral features

By nature, fish are predators. It is mainly active at night. Young individuals most of the time spend on the coast, while already adult individuals try to go closer to the bottom, where, burrowing into the ground, they hide from daylight. The depth of the shelter can be up to 80 centimeters. Mostly fish choose muddy areas as shelter, trying to avoid rocky soil.

When night falls, eels come out of their hiding places and go hunting. Fish move quite slowly, as do snakes. They can move on land only if it is wet. Poor eyesight compensated by an excellent sense of smell. They are able to smell prey at a distance of up to 20 meters.

River fish live in water enriched with oxygen. Animals are becoming more active early spring and lead an active lifestyle until frost sets in. With the onset of cold weather, fish hibernate. It looks as if there are driftwood sticking out of the ground. Moreover, only the head is in the form of a snag, while the rest of the body is securely hidden in its shelter. After the end of the cold season, eels become active again and begin to search for food.

Very often you can meet this predator in reservoirs where pikes live. This fish is the most delicious treat. Carp caviar is also a favorite dish. After living in a reservoir for about 5 years, the predator acquires the ability to hunt from cover. The fish eats all the prey it catches at the bottom.