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American eel (Anguilla rostrata) (4015394951)🐟

Photo: Clinton & Charles Robertson · CC BY 2.0

SpeciesAnguilliformesAnguillidae
Fish

🐟American eel

Anguilla rostrata (Lesueur, 1817)

La anguila americana (Anguilla rostrata) es un pez migratorio que se encuentra en la costa oriental de América del Norte. La anguila americana tiene un cuerpo delgado como una serpiente y se cubre con una capa mucosa, lo que hace que la anguila parezca estar viscosa a pesar de la presencia de escamas muy pequeñas. Una aleta larga y dorsal se extiende desde el centro de la espalda y se continúa con una aleta ventral similar. Las aletas pélvicas están ausentes, y la aleta pectoral es relativamente pequeña, se puede encontrar cerca de la línea media, seguida de la cabeza y las branquias, que están cubiertas. Existen variaciones en la coloración, de verde oliva, marrón y el sombreado de color amarillo verdoso y el gris claro o blanco en el vientre. Las anguilas que habitan en agua clara son más claras que las de las corrientes oscuras.​

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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Photos
1
Measurements
7
vs you
≈ 1/15th of your weight
Conservation status
ENEndangered

IUCN Red List assessment, 2023.

Population trendStable
Key measurements
Body mass
4.03 kg
Body length
0.5 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
50 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the American eel

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
4.03 kgrecord 7.33 kg · FishBase
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Body length
0.5 mrecord 1.52 m · FishBasetypical adult
FishBase
Other figures ↓

Record: largest individual on record

Source: FishBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

By sex

  • Female1.22 mFishBasev25.04
Maximum lifespan
50 yearsrecord 43 years · FishBase
AnAge
Details ↓

data quality: acceptable

Record: largest individual on record

Source: AnAge · AnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR) · CC BY 3.0

Trophic level
3.83
FishBase
Details ↓

Source: FishBase · v25.04, estimate table · CC BY-NC 4.0

Diet
carnivoreaverage
Details ↓

From trophic level 3.83 (FishBase): <2.2 herbivore, 2.2–2.8 omnivore, >2.8 carnivore.

Danger to humans
harmless
FishBase
Details ↓

Source: FishBase · v25.04 · CC BY-NC 4.0

Volume l
4 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for American eel yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›orderAnguilliformes
  4. ›familyAnguillidae
  5. ›genusAnguilla
  6. ›speciesAnguilla rostrata
Full lineage
  1. superclassRay-finned fish · Actinopterygii
  2. superorderElopomorpha
  3. familyAnguillidae
  4. genusAnguilla
All 11 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassRay-finned fish · Actinopterygii
  7. classActinopteri
  8. subclassNeopterygii
  9. superorderElopomorpha
  10. familyAnguillidae
  11. genusAnguilla
More

More about the American eel

In other languages
amerikansk ål (nb), Anguille d'Amérique (fr), 美洲鰻鱺 (zh), Enguia-americana (pt), Američka jegulja (sr), anguila americana (ca) … and 16 more languages
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