AnimalvsAnimal
Anguilla anguilla (cropped)🐟

Photo: GerardM · CC BY-SA 3.0

SpeciesAnguilliformesAnguillidae
Fish

🐟European eel

Anguilla anguilla (Linnaeus, 1758)

The European eel is a species of eel. Their life history was a mystery for thousands of years, and mating in the wild has not yet been observed. The five stages of their development were originally thought to be different species. They are critically endangered due to hydroelectric dams, overfishing by fisheries on coasts for human consumption, and parasites.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
1
Photos
4
Measurements
7
vs you
≈ 1/17th of your weight
Also called
eel
Conservation status
CRCritically endangered

IUCN Red List assessment, 2020.

Population trendDecreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
3.63 kg
Body length
0.35 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
88 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the European eel

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

Body mass
3.63 kgrecord 6.6 kg · FishBase
AnAge
Other figures ↓

data quality: acceptable

Record: largest individual on record

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

By sex

  • Female2.85 kgFishBasev25.04
Body length
0.35 mrecord 1.22 m · FishBasetypical adult
FishBase
Other figures ↓

Record: largest individual on record

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

By sex

  • Female1.33 mFishBasev25.04
Maximum lifespan
88 yearsrecord 23 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
3.55
FishBase
Details ↓

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

Diet
carnivoreaverage
Details ↓

From trophic level 3.55 (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
3.6 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 European 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 anguilla
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 European eel

In other languages
Europäischer Aal (de), Anguille d'Europe (fr), ål (nb), Anguilla anguilla (it), úhoř říční (cs), Anguilla anguilla (es) … and 25 more languages
More photos
Anguilla anguilla (cropped)Anguilla anguilla 01 by dpc (cropped)Anguilla anguilla Belgium 1
All 4 photos in the gallery →

Animals caught on camera

Real footage of the animals on this site — hunting, fighting, and getting on with it.

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Tools

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Scaling lab

How speed, brain and bite scale with body size. This animal isn't in the sample yet.

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Tree of life

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