River eel what you need to know when fishing. European eel - eel fish - fish of the eel family Sea eel or river fish

The large family of conger eels is represented by more than 180 species, which are found exclusively in sea and ocean waters. Low-salt and fresh waters are unsuitable for their habitat. The differences between representatives of all species are very minor and relate to for the most part to the habitat of eels.

The conger (conger eel) is significantly larger and heavier than the river eel. Females can be up to 2.40 m long, less often up to 3 m, and weigh over 100 kg, males reach a maximum length of 1.30 m, their the average size far less. The body diameter is more than 20 cm. The head and mouth are also much larger.

The body is long, serpentine, devoid of scales. The head is somewhat flattened. A large mouth with thick lips is located at the end of the snout. There are two rows of teeth on both jaws. The outer rows of large, closely spaced teeth, shaped like incisors, form cutting edges. In the inner rows, the teeth are small, conical, pointed. There are large conical teeth on the palate and vomer. The long dorsal fin with 275-300 soft rays begins behind the pectoral fins. The dorsal and anal fins merge with the caudal fin. The pectoral fins are pointed. The lateral line runs along the entire body. Vertebrae 153-164.

The body color is dark gray or brown, the belly is light brown or golden. The dorsal and anal fins are light brown with a black border. The pores of the lateral line are white.

Habitat

The distribution range of conger eels is quite wide and includes the warm waters of the Indian, Pacific and Atlantic oceans, as well as the adjacent seas. Some species of conger eels tolerate colder waters better and can be found in the Mediterranean and North Atlantic. To the Northern, Baltic and Black Sea The sea eel fish swims quite rarely. These fish are inhabitants of both the coastal zone and open sea without going deeper than 500 m.

This one appeared predatory fish more than 100 million years ago in the vast ocean near Indonesia. Initially, the eel was exclusively sea ​​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, like sea eels, are mainly distributed in rivers that flow into the following seas:

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

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

Lifestyle

Acne leads night look life and during the day they prefer to sleep in a secluded place. By nature they are voracious predators with powerful teeth. The diet is based on small fish, crustaceans and mollusks. They will not miss the catch caught in fishing nets. Not having good eyesight, eel fish prefer to ambush prey, because thanks to their excellent sense of smell they sense it from afar. There are species of eels that camouflage themselves with bottom vegetation. Digging a vertical hole in the ground with the help of a strong tail and leaning halfway out of it, sea eels wait for prey. In case of danger, they hide completely in the hole with lightning speed.

After reaching sexual maturity (from 5 to 15 years), conger eels are ready to reproduce. Females are much larger than males in size. To spawn, these fish go on a long journey, ending in the summer in the eastern part of the Atlantic or in the Mediterranean Sea. A necessary condition is a depth of at least 3000 m. Spawning of eels is the first and only time in their life. After the female produces 3 to 8 million tiny eggs, the parents die. The larvae (leptocephali) hatching from the eggs are carried over vast distances by currents.

Economic importance

Valuable commercial fish. World catches 1996-2012 varied from 13.2 to 19.5 thousand tons. The fishery is carried out using bottom trawls and longlines.

Sold fresh and frozen. The meat is tasty and suitable for smoking. Used for preparing canned food. Like many eels, the conger's blood contains toxic substances that are destroyed when heated, under the influence of acids and alkalis. Poisonous properties appear only when injecting the blood serum of these fish. Due to this feature, the conger is considered a passively poisonous fish.

Record catches

The IGFA registered record for conger eel is 60 kg 440 g, set by Vic Evans, skipper from Brixham (UK), in June 1995.

Over the past decades, professional fishermen have periodically caught large congers. The largest, weighing almost 160 kg, was caught off the Vestmannaeyjar Islands (near Iceland). With a maximum weight of about 150 kg, sea eels reach a length of 3 m. Their powerful jaws are studded with small teeth that can cause serious wounds.

Fishing places and times

Sea eels are hooked close to their hiding places. They prefer areas with a sandy bottom and large stones. This promising places fishing, because the fish after hooking cannot hide in the crevices of the rocks. Conger hunts mainly at night in shallow water, “combing” the waters of ports along the breakwaters and rocky shores. Since June, these predators have been regularly caught off the coast of England. But best time to catch them begins in mid-September. With the first autumn storms, the fishing season ends.

This is interesting! In the UK, a distinction is made between record fish caught from the shore and from a boat. The maximum weight of sea eels caught from the shore is from 30 to 35 kg. But most often fish from 3 to 15 kg are caught from the shore.

Where do the largest eels live?

The largest specimens of conger are found annually over sunken ships in the English Channel. Fish up to 35 kg are caught from reefs in the western part of the English Channel. Reef conger eels are not always smaller than their counterparts caught over shipwrecks. However, underwater reefs, due to their long distance cannot be fished as effectively as the area of ​​a sunken ship where fish are concentrated.

Some wrecks in less accessible areas of the sea have become home to numerous small congers weighing from 7.5 to 20 kg. On some days, a catch of 20 or 30 eels per angler is considered normal. There are not as many eels living above the sunken ships, where intensive fishing is carried out, but they are larger. If trophy eel hunters fish around heavily fished wrecks, they may only be able to settle for one or two fish per angler. But these will be specimens weighing more than 25 kg.

This is interesting! Vic Evans' record conger, like all the biggest conger eels of the last 30 years, was caught off a wreck that lies no more than 10 miles off the coast.

Features in cooking

The fish is especially popular in Japan. In this country, they believe that the meat of these creatures is an excellent tonic and improves performance. Healthy fish oil from eel prevents heart pathologies. The pulp contains many proteins, polyunsaturated and saturated fatty acids, which help rejuvenate cells and get rid of nervous diseases.

Conger eel is prized dietary nutrition. Fish, beneficial features the meat of which is difficult to overestimate, very nutritious. It contains potassium and iodine. And, as you know, these minerals help strengthen the heart muscle and protect our thyroid gland. Meat conger eel It has a low calorie content, which is very important for dietary nutrition.

It contains a wide range of valuable vitamins (A, B, E, D) and protein. Regular consumption of this delicacy in any variation strengthens the immune system and has a beneficial effect on the entire body as a whole. Dishes made from it are indicated for gout, rheumatism, malaise, depression, central nervous system disease, and atherosclerosis. Looking at the Japanese, who periodically eat fish and are distinguished by good health and high performance, you can be convinced of healing properties meat of this predator.

River eel is considered a delicacy. Especially smoked. However, in some areas it is not eaten because it resembles a snake in appearance.

Yes, the river eel really does look unappetizing, so few people dare to get close to what is wriggling in the water, and even pick it up. But in vain. After all, this fish has a valuable composition, which includes fat and proteins, vitamins and minerals.

Appearance

The long narrow body, compressed at the back towards the tail, really gives the eel its resemblance to a snake. Like all fish, it is covered with mucus, and therefore quite slippery, and it is not so easy to hold it in your hands. The eel has fins: pectoral, dorsal, caudal and anal. Moreover, the last three are connected into one and stretch along the entire length of his back. Its also distinctive feature is its flattened head, which in appearance is almost indistinguishable from the body. There are small eyes on both sides of the mouth and tiny sharp teeth inside, which greatly help this predator to hunt. River eel happens different color. This depends on the body of water in which it lives, as well as on the degree of its maturity. Juveniles are dark green or dark brown with a black back, yellow sides and a white belly. Adults are much darker. Their back is black or dark brown, their sides are grayish-white, and their belly is white. With age, the river eel acquires a metallic sheen.

Where does he live?

Its habitat is wide. It can be found in almost all reservoirs of the European part of Russia. In addition, it lives in the basins of the Baltic Sea, sometimes the Azov, Black, White and Barents Seas. In Ukraine, the river eel chooses the Danube, the Southern Bug, and the Danube basin. This river inhabitant does not require any special conditions for its habitat. Perhaps that is why some of its individuals manage to reach the age of twenty-five. On average, their life expectancy is 9-15 years. How does the eel conduct them?

Types and lifestyle of fish

Being underwater for that long must be boring. But not for fish. After all, they are busy constantly obtaining food. What does the river eel eat? Being a predator, it eats fish, newts, frogs, larvae, snails, crustaceans, and worms. He hunts in dark time days. Moreover, his assistant is not vision, but an excellent sense of smell. With its help, the river eel can smell prey at a distance of up to 10 meters. Acne is active only in warm water. A drop in its temperature to 9-11 degrees is a signal for them that it is time to go into suspended animation. They remain in this state until spring, when warming sets in again.

When in danger, these fish burrow into the muddy bottom, so they avoid rocky surfaces. During the day they hide between snags, in thickets and other shelters, and at night they can approach the very shore. If the pond dries up, they can for a long time live in damp soil. Sometimes eels move on land; the condition for this possibility is damp grass or soil.

Strange appearance

In Aristotle's time, people could not explain where eels came from. No one was able to catch an eel with eggs or milk or see its fry. Therefore, its origins were shrouded in mystery. In their conclusions, people went so far as to consider the eel to be a product of silt. Others explained this phenomenon by saying that it appears from other fish or even worms. But in our time it is known that eels swim to spawn in the Atlantic Ocean to a place where many After the eggs are laid, usually in April or May, these fish die. Transparent, flat larvae are born at the end of winter. The eel spends three years in this form. All this time he has been drifting off the coast of America or Western Europe. After it acquires its usual appearance, the eel goes to permanent residence in fresh water bodies. There are several varieties of this fish with their own habits and characteristics.

Dangerous acquaintance

In addition to the completely harmless European or common eel, its electric counterpart lives in nature. Although they look similar, they are not related. during a hunt, it kills small fish by releasing a charge of current, the strength of which reaches 600 V. This can be enough to kill even a person. This eel reaches 1.5 meters in length and weighs 40 kilograms. In addition to hunting, with the help electric charge the eel defends itself from enemies. The radius of its influence is 3 meters. Divers should stay away from this fish because it attacks without warning. Her habitat was

Big and beautiful

This fish has a relative in Atlantic Ocean. This is the structure of his body, he is very similar to his brother and has the same elongated body and flattened head. However, it is significantly larger in size river eel. It also differs in color. Several species of conger eel live in the ocean. Its skin is gray or brown, but spotted or striped individuals are also found. This fish is tasty and fishermen enjoy catching it. It is especially pleasant that the trophy turns out to be of significant size.

Plant or not

The original among its relatives is the spotted garden eel. It is named so because of its color, and also because these fish “stand” all their lives, half sticking out of the water. Such a flock resembles a garden. When danger appears, they dive into their sandy burrows and then pop back out. They sway in the water column for a reason. Disguising themselves as plant stems, these fish wait for their prey and then deftly grab them with their large mouths. They eat crustaceans, mollusks, and small fish. This species of eel is found in the Red Sea, off Madagascar, near East Africa.

Expensive and delicious

The Japanese river eel differs from the common eel in that it can live both in fresh water and in the sea. And at night it even gets out onto land. Its habitat is Japan, Taiwan, Korea, China, and the Philippines. This eel glows in the dark and eats insects, fish and crustaceans. It is used for cooking and also in Chinese traditional medicine. IN Japanese cuisine this fish is the most expensive, so it is caught in very large quantities, and she is even under special surveillance by Greenpeace.

Don't be afraid appearance this fish. It has nothing to do with snakes. So feel free to try this delicacy.

In all centuries, people have been reverent about fish. In every country culinary masters developed our own unique dishes from this useful product. Special treatment in many regions globe to eel delicacies. This is a rather rare guest in our rivers, so its cost is sometimes prohibitive. But in terms of taste and healing properties, it can compete with many marine inhabitants. snake fish The eel is a predatory species and constantly migrates from freshwater rivers to the seas.

Description

Uninformed people often confuse it with a snake, since in appearance it is very similar to it. The eel's body is elongated, its head is small, and its skin is slippery. When you see a predator, you might think that its body is completely naked, but this is an illusion. After clearing it of abundant mucus, you can notice the smallest scales.

The color range varies from dark green to bluish-black. The abdomen is either light white or bluish. Eel fish can grow up to two meters in length. To lay eggs, it swims to the depths of the sea; after spawning, the individual dies immediately. The female can lay up to 500 thousand eggs.

Predatory fish eel: where is it found, its variety?

The first mention of this species appeared more than a hundred million years ago. At first, the habitat was recorded off the coast of Indonesia. Adults move frequently. For what reason this happens is not yet clear. But it is known for sure that eels like the clay bottom, in which they find food (crustaceans, worms, snails).

Young fish first live in a fresh ground river, densely populated with vegetation. By burying themselves in the mud, they protect themselves from various predators. Adult eels can be seen in the reeds, under big stones and thickets of sedge. These inhabitants prefer to get food for themselves at night, and for their own safety they change color.

Fish is usually divided into river and sea fish, although such a classification is not entirely appropriate, since individuals constantly move from freshwater to salt water.

The river eel has a brown-green tint. Fish with a small amount of scales lives in the Azov, Black, White, Barents and Baltic seas. These predators are quite tenacious and are able to exist even without water and overcome considerable distances on wet grass. Don't be surprised if you come across "creeping" specimens in some body of water. Such fish will be distinguished by its fat content and high nutritional value.

The conger eel is awarded a monochromatic black body. The fish is also practically without scales. Thanks to its inconspicuous color, it can easily disguise itself as dirt. Habitat: North Atlantic basins. Both predators feed on small fish, crayfish and larvae. Until now, experts cannot fully study the life of these subspecies due to their secrecy. They rarely appear on the surface of the water and are increasingly found at great depths. This makes it difficult to observe and study.

Benefit

The fish is especially popular in Japan. In this country, they believe that the meat of these creatures is an excellent tonic and improves performance. Healthy fish oil from eel prevents heart pathologies. The pulp contains many proteins, polyunsaturated and saturated fatty acids, which help rejuvenate cells and get rid of nervous diseases.

In dietary nutrition, conger eel is more valued. Fish, the beneficial properties of its meat can hardly be overestimated, is very nutritious. It contains potassium and iodine. And, as you know, these minerals help strengthen the heart muscle and protect our thyroid gland. Conger eel meat is low in calories, which is very important for dietary nutrition.

It contains a wide range of valuable vitamins (A, B, E, D) and protein. Regular consumption of this delicacy in any variation strengthens the immune system and has a beneficial effect on the entire body as a whole. Dishes made from it are indicated for gout, rheumatism, malaise, depression, central nervous system disease, and atherosclerosis. Looking at the Japanese, who periodically eat fish and are distinguished by good health and high performance, you can be convinced of the healing properties of the meat of this predator.

Use in cooking

Eel fish is an expensive delicacy and is served in the best restaurants in the world. And this is not surprising, because the meat of this subspecies is very tender, soft and extremely healthy. And the pulp river dweller has a high fat content. The carcass is stewed, smoked, fried, baked and boiled - in any interpretation it turns out incomparable.

Spicy and unforgettable taste qualities are revealed when preparing first courses. Those who have tried fish soup or eel soup say that the dish outshines the taste of any other. Each country has its own original recipes. For example, in Lithuania it is customary to serve smoked eel with beer. Italy is famous for its grilled fish with green salad.

No matter how colorful the information is presented, the taste and aroma of eel cannot be described. Try to prepare the delicacy yourself, just be extremely careful when cutting it. Eel blood is toxic, and if it gets on the wound, an inflammatory process can begin.

How to cook eel fish: recipes

Cold appetizer in the form of salad. To prepare it you will need smoked fish eel (three hundred grams), potatoes (3 pcs.), bell pepper, three eggs, parsley, green onions, balsamic vinegar (dessert spoon), the same amount of olive oil and spices to taste.

Cooking process

Boil eggs and potatoes, chop into small cubes or cut into thin slices. Pepper - into strips. Fish fillet - pieces. Place green leaves on the bottom of a flat plate, on top - potatoes, eggs, pepper, eel, chopped parsley - sprinkle with vinegar and oil.

Exotic soup

Ingredients: eel carcass (600 grams), one carrot, frozen peas (half a cup), leek and celery. You will also need two liters of pre-boiled chicken broth, one hundred grams of any dried fruits and a fresh pear. You can’t do without a spoon of wine vinegar, black pepper, garlic salt and granulated sugar(five grams).

Cooking method

Fill boiled water dried fruits (raisins, dried apricots, prunes). Place grated carrots, sliced ​​celery and leeks into the hot broth. Let it boil a little and add the swollen fruit. Let the liquid simmer for 7 minutes, and then add the eel, cut into portions, along with sugar, vinegar, salt and pepper.

Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. While the soup is preparing, let's take care of the pear - cut it into thin slices and sauté butter. Place the remaining ingredients into the broth: peas, chopped parsley. Pour into portions and garnish with a piece of fried pear.

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 a 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 a large number of 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 eggs, with an average of 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 is a predatory fish. It is nocturnal. 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 the coastal zone, swim into the thickets 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 active image life. 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 a lot of 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 the fishing line, but it can grind thin tackle with its 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.

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 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 basin of the North, 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 this river inhabitant can often 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). The 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 a completely freshwater fish - it is rather an anadromous one. 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 descends 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. She is so different from an adult that for some time she was mistaken for separate species fish Since then she has proper 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.