MALIKA NIXON, HEREFORD
HOW DO EELS REPRODUCE?
There are around 15 species of eels in the Anguillidae family, all of them long, snake-shaped fish and most of them migrating between the ocean and freshwaters inland during different parts of their lives.
The most remarkable journey is made by the European eel, (Anguilla anguillla). Born in the Sargasso Sea, in the central Atlantic, they hatch into transparent larvae that look like leaves with tiny fish heads stuck on. They drift for thousands of miles on Atlantic currents and arrive on the shores of eastern Europe where they transform into bootlace-sized young, known as glass eels or elvers. They mature in shallow coastal seas and eventually change colour to become larger yellow eels before migrating along rivers and into lakes. For decades, eels stay in inland freshwaters, before changing colour again to become metre-long silver eels.