Information
The
American eel (Anguilla rostrata) is found over a large
geographic range - much of the eastern coast of North
America including the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario,
deep into the Mississippi drainage basin, through Central
America into northern South America, and as far northeast
as southern Greenland. Yet only one area - a stretch
of ocean east of the Bahamas, the Sargasso Sea - is
the source for all the eels that blanket this region.
The American eel is considered a freshwater fish, though
catadromous - it matures in fresh or brackish water
and reproduces in saltwater. The species is highly migratory
with multiple habitat requirements including the open
ocean, coasts and estuaries, rivers and streams, lakes,
and ponds.
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