True freshwater eels?

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rumblesushi

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Jul 18, 2005
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I've been a little surprised/confused recently :D

I knew that electric eels were not true eels, part of the knife family, however I recently read that the synbranchus swamp eels are not true eels, just elongated fish, and also that fire eels are not true eels either.

Wtf, I really thought these 2 genus were true eels.

Next up I'll be hearing that moray eels and conger eels are not true eels either :D

Scientifically - what constitutes an eel?

And what are the true freshwater eels? Just the anguilla species?
 
I dont really know what constitute an eel . But you are right on the genus anguilladae. They are the recognized freshwater eel . Ill do more reading when i get the chance.
 
Any member of the order of Anguilloidei are true eels, there are 4 suborders each containing several families, most are salt water or migratory.
The suborders are anguillidae (arrowtooth, worm, spaghetti, false moray, american, moray, etc),
the congroidei (congers, pike eels, etc),
the nemicthyoidei (snipe and sawtooth),
and the synaphobrachoidei (cuthroats)
 
Also, none of the freshwarer eels (family Anguillidae) are entirely freshwater. They exibit a life history strategy know as catadromy. Catadromous fish live in freshwater and spawn in saltwater. This is a very unique spawning strategy that only about ¼ of 1 percent of fish share. Tsukamoto et al. suggest that catadromy in the eels may have stemmed from an ancestor that completed it migration within the ocean (Tsukamoto et al. 2002). That idea is supported by the recent discovery of ocean only migrations in the Japanese eel. (Tsukamoto and Arai 2001). Both American and European eels have almost identical life histories. The American eel begins its life in the Sargasso Sea which lies in the middle of the north Atlantic gyer. Their spawning location is though to be located south of Bermuda and north of the Bahamas, although spawning has never been witnessed. <--- from a paper I am working on about the role of biology, life histroy, and genetics in the conservation of the American eel.
 
dredcon, thanks for the info hombre, it's interesting.

I want a true eel :D

Who has experience with these? Anyone kept an American or European eel or Japanese eel?

I've never seen one for sale, but I like their look.

What are they like characteristically? Do they make good aquarium fish?
 
They not real pretty, but I liked mine untill he escaped the tank. I found him plastered to my tile floor by tons of dried slime, had to scrape him up with a screwdriver.
 
American eels are a cool fish to keep simply because of their unique life history. I dont know of any other fish I can go to the river and catch that began their lives in the middle of the ocean.
 
I agree, it's cool for sure. Was your American eel aggressive? How active was it?

I might try and catch a European eel.
 
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