Eel

Eel

Eel ©Jack Perks

Eel

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Enw gwyddonol: Anguilla anguilla
The eel is famous for both its slippery nature and its mammoth migration from its freshwater home to the Sargasso Sea where it breeds. It has suffered dramatic declines and is a protected species.

Top facts

Stats

Length: up to 1m
Weight: 0.5-5kg
Average Lifespan: 15-70 years

Conservation status

Priority Species under the UK Post-2010 Biodiversity Framework. Listed as Critically Endangered on the global IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Pryd i'w gweld

January to December

Ynghylch

The eel is a very long, narrow fish that can grow to over a metre in length. It looks smooth and lacks the obvious scales and gills of other fish. It can be found in rivers and ditches, but leaves its freshwater home to breed in an area of the west Atlantic Ocean called the Sargasso Sea. Young eels (known as 'Elvers') return to freshwater rivers to develop. Eels are predators and scavengers, feeding on dead animals, fish eggs, invertebrates and other fish.

What to look for

The eel is a snake-like freshwater fish. A group of bizarre fish called lampreys look similar but have large sucker-like mouths and no pectoral fins. Eels range in colour above, from silver to olive-green, and have yellow bellies.

Where to find

Widespread.

Roeddech chi yn gwybod?

Eels are able to survive out of water for quite a long time and may crawl through wet grass to reach water.