Eel

This article is about the elongated fish. For other uses, see Eel (disambiguation).
"Eels" redirects here. For the band, see Eels (band).

Eel
Temporal range: Cenomanian–recent[1]
Anguilla dieffenbachii, New Zealand
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Superorder: Elopomorpha
Order: Anguilliformes
E. S. Goodrich, 1909[2]
Type genus
Anguilla
Suborders

see text

Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (/æŋˈɡwɪlɪfɔːrmiːz/), which consists of eight suborders, 20 families, 164 genera, and about 1000 species.[4][5] Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage and are usually predators.

The term "eel" is also used for some other eel-shaped fish, such as electric eels (genus Electrophorus), swamp eels (order Synbranchiformes), and deep-sea spiny eels (family Notacanthidae). However, these other clades, with the exception of deep-sea spiny eels, whose order Notacanthiformes is the sister clade to true eels, evolved their eel-like shapes independently from the true eels. As a main rule, most eels are marine. Exceptions are the catadromous genus Anguilla and the freshwater moray,[6] which spend most of their life in freshwater, the anadromous rice-paddy eel, which spawns in freshwater, and the freshwater snake eel Stictorhinus.[7]

Spotted moray eel in a tank, 2016
  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference FB was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Thomas J. Near; Christine E. Thacker. "Phylogenetic Classification of Living and Fossil Ray-Finned Fishes (Actinopterygii)". Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 65 (1): 3–302. doi:10.3374/014.065.0101.
  3. ^ Pl. 661 in Garsault, F. A. P. de 1764. Les figures des plantes et animaux d'usage en medecine, décrits dans la Matiere Medicale de Mr. Geoffroy medecin, dessinés d'après nature par Mr. de Gasault, gravés par Mrs. Defehrt, Prevost, Duflos, Martinet &c. Niquet scrip. [5]. - pp. [1-4], index [1-20], Pl. 644–729. Paris.
  4. ^ "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Anguilliformes". www.marinespecies.org.
  5. ^ "WoRMS - World Register of Marine Species - Saccopharyngiformes". www.marinespecies.org.
  6. ^ Ebner, Brendan C.; Donaldson, James A.; Courtney, Robert; Fitzpatrick, Richard; Starrs, Danswell; Fletcher, Cameron S.; Seymour, Jamie (23 September 2019). "Averting danger under the bridge: video confirms that adult small-toothed morays tolerate salinity before and during tidal influx". Pacific Conservation Biology. 26 (2): 182–189. doi:10.1071/PC19023. S2CID 204150660 – via www.publish.csiro.au.
  7. ^ "Family OPHICHTHIDAE" (PDF).