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True eels are fish of the order Anguilliformes that consists of 4 suborders, 19 families, 110 genera and 400 species. Depending on their species, they 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 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).
Most eels are predators.
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]
Trivia
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 a myth that wallets made out of Electric eels, which are not true eels, will demagnitize your credit cards. This is not true.
In recent years, some cryptozoologists have theorised that the Loch Ness Monster might be a giant eel.
Classification
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
Suborder Synaphobranchoidei
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.
See also
References
