Eel what a fish. Sea eel. Where to look for an eel in a pond

River eel is considered a delicacy. Especially smoked. However, in some areas it is not eaten because it resembles a snake in appearance.

Yes, indeed, the river eel looks unappetizing, so few dare to approach what wriggles in the water, and even pick it up. But in vain. After all, this fish has a valuable composition, which includes fat and proteins, vitamins and minerals.

Appearance

The long, narrow body, compressed at the back towards the tail, really gives the eel a resemblance to a snake. Like all fish, it is covered with mucus, and therefore rather slippery, it is not so easy to hold it in your hands. The eel has fins: pectoral, dorsal, caudal and anal. Moreover, the last three are connected into one and stretch along the entire length of his back. Also, its feature is a flattened head, which outwardly almost cannot be distinguished from the body. On both sides of the mouth are small eyes, inside it are tiny sharp teeth, which greatly help this predator to hunt. River eel happens different color. It depends on the reservoir in which he lives, as well as on the degree of his sexual maturity. Juveniles are dark green or dark brown with a black back, yellow sides and a white belly. Adults are much darker. The back is black or dark brown, the sides are grayish-white, the belly is white. River eel acquires a metallic sheen with age.

Where does he live

Its habitat is wide. It can be found in almost all water bodies of the European part of Russia. In addition, he resides in pools Baltic Sea, sometimes Azov, Black, White and Barents. In Ukraine, river eel chooses the Danube, Southern Bug, the Danube basin. This river dweller does not require any special conditions for its habitat. Maybe that's why some of its individuals manage to reach the age of twenty-five. On average, their life expectancy is 9-15 years. How does acne conduct them?

Varieties and lifestyle of fish

Being under water for such a long time must be boring. But not for fish. After all, they are constantly busy obtaining food. What does river eel eat? Being a predator, he eats fish, newts, frogs, larvae, snails, crustaceans, worms. He hunts in the dark. Moreover, it is not his sight that serves as an assistant, but an excellent sense of smell. With its help, river eel can smell prey at a distance of up to 10 meters. Eels are active only in warm water. Lowering its temperature to 9-11 degrees is a signal for them that it is time to fall into suspended animation. In this state, they remain until spring, until warming comes again.

In times of danger, these fish burrow into the muddy bottom, so they avoid rocky surfaces. During the day they hide between snags, in thickets and other shelters, and at night they can come close to the shore. If the reservoir dries up, then they can for a long time live in wet soil. Sometimes eels move on land, the condition for this possibility is wet grass or soil.

strange appearance

In Aristotle's time, people couldn't explain where acne came from. No one managed to catch an eel with caviar or milk or see its fry. Therefore, its origin was shrouded in mystery. In their conclusions, people have reached the point that they considered the eel a product of silt. Others explained this phenomenon by saying that it comes from other fish or even worms. But in our time, it is known that eels swim away to spawn in the Atlantic Ocean in a place where a lot After the eggs are laid, usually in April or May, these fish die. Transparent, flat larvae are born at the end of winter. In this way, the eel spends three years. All this time he drifts off the coast of America or Western Europe. After it acquires its usual appearance, the eel goes to a permanent residence in fresh water. There are several varieties of this fish with their habits and characteristics.

dangerous acquaintance

In addition to the completely harmless European or common eel, its electric counterpart lives in nature. Although they look similar in appearance, they are not related. while hunting, it kills small fish, releasing a current charge, the strength of which reaches 600 V. This can be enough to kill even a person. Such an eel In length, it reaches 1.5 meters, and weighs 40 kilograms. In addition to hunting, with the help of an electric charge, the eel is protected from enemies. The radius of its influence is 3 meters. Divers should stay away from this fish because it attacks without warning. Her habitat was

Big and beautiful

This fish has a relative in the Atlantic Ocean. This is the structure of his body, he is very similar to his brother and has the same elongated torso and flattened head. However, the size is much larger than the river eel. It also differs in color. Several species of conger eel live in the ocean. Its skin is colored gray or brown, but there are spotted or striped individuals. This fish is delicious, fishermen are happy to catch it. It is especially pleasing that the trophy is of considerable size.

plant or not

The original among its relatives is the spotted garden eel. It is named so because of its coloration, and also because these fish “stand” all their lives, half leaning out of the water. Such a flock resembles a garden. When danger appears, they dive into their sandy holes, and then stick out back. They swing in the water column for a reason. Disguising themselves as plant stems, these fish wait for their prey, and then deftly grab it with their large mouth. For food they eat crustaceans, mollusks, small fish. This type of eel is found in the Red Sea, off Madagascar, near East Africa.

Expensive and tasty

The Japanese river eel differs from the common eel in that it can live both in fresh water and in the sea. And at night even gets out on land. Its habitat is Japan, Taiwan, Korea, China, Philippines. This eel glows in the dark and eats insects, fish and crustaceans. It is used for cooking and also in Chinese traditional medicine. In Japanese cuisine, this fish is the most expensive, so it is caught in very large quantities, and it is even under the special supervision of Greenpeace.

Do not be afraid of the appearance of this fish. It has nothing to do with snakes. So feel free to try this delicacy.

Common or European eel (lat. Anguilla anguilla)- a species of predatory freshwater fish from the family of river eels.

It has a long wriggling body with a brownish-greenish back, with yellowness on the sides and abdominal part. It lives in the waters of the Baltic Sea basin, in much smaller numbers - in the rivers and lakes of the Azov, Black, White basins, Barents Seas. It is found in many reservoirs of the European part of Russia. At first glance, this wonderful fish resembles a snake, and therefore in many places we do not even consider it a fish and are not eaten. The long body of the eel is almost perfectly cylindrical, only the tail is slightly laterally compressed, especially towards the end.

His head is small, slightly flattened in front, with a more or less long and wide nose, as a result of which other zoologists distinguish several types of eels; both jaws, of which the lower one is slightly longer than the upper one, are seated (also the arthropod) with small, sharp teeth; the yellowish-silvery eyes are very small, the gill openings are very narrow and moved a considerable distance from the occiput, as a result of which the gill covers do not completely cover the gill cavity. The dorsal and anal fins are very long and, together with the caudal fin, merge into one inseparable fin, bordering the entire rear half of the body in a circle. The soft rays of the fins are generally covered with rather thick skin and, as a result, are hardly distinguishable. At first glance, the eel seems to be naked, but if you remove the thick layer of mucus that covers it, it turns out that its body is seated with small, delicate, very oblong scales, which, however, for the most part do not touch and are generally located very irregularly. The color of the eel varies considerably - and sometimes dark green, sometimes bluish-black; the belly, however, is always yellowish-white or bluish-gray.

The real location of the eel is the rivers of the Baltic, Mediterranean and German seas. In our country, this fish is found in large numbers only in southwestern Finland, in the St. Petersburg, Baltic, and some northwestern bays. (even, according to my information, in Smolensk Gubernia, namely in the Belaya River, a tributary of the Western Dvina) and in Poland. In addition to rivers, the eel lives in many large lakes - Ladoga, Onega and Peipsi, from which it enters the shallow Pskov Lake. In Ilmen, however, it is not. From the waters of the Baltic Basin, the eel probably penetrated through canals into the rivers of the Black and Caspian Seas in this century, but it is still very rare here. Only single specimens occasionally reach the Volga, as prof. Kessler from fishermen in Vyshny Volochek, Rybinsk, Yaroslavl and Yuryevets, but they do not breed in it; they are probably often confused here with river lampreys. According to O. A. Grimm, eels sometimes reach Saratov, but in any case they are very a rare event and hardly reach the Caspian Sea. Only in some rivers flowing into the upper Volga, eels come across quite often, namely in Tvertsa, where they probably got from Lake. Mstino, but Lately they disappeared from this river as well.

In the same way, only individual, so to speak, lost individuals are occasionally seen in the Dnieper, Dniester and Danube, but, apparently, from ancient times, since even Guldenshtedt (in the last century) says that the eel is located in the river. Ostra (in the left tributary of the Desna), near Nizhyn. Probably, it got into the Dnieper basin from the Neman through the Pinsk swamps, and indeed the upper reaches of the Black Sea and Baltic basins are close to each other and, moreover, are connected by canals. Kyiv fishermen sometimes find eels in the stomach of large catfish and believe that they must be found not far from Kyiv - in the Dnieper or Pripyat; Mogilev fishermen also claimed prof. Kessler that the eel comes across occasionally in the Dniester. Finally, in the seventies, K.K. Pengo was delivered an eel, already caught in the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov near the Petrovsky village. As for the presence of eels in the Danube, in the spring of 1890, the fishermen's society in Galati sent over half a million young eels from Altona in Schleswig, which were released into the Danube, on the Romanian coast. In all likelihood, eels are quite acclimatized here and will breed (in the sea).

“River eel,” says Prof. Kessler, is not a completely freshwater fish, but rather an anadromous fish, since it does not spend its entire life in fresh waters, but periodically leaves them for the sea. However, there is an important difference between the eel and other anadromous fish. The fact is that all other anadromous fish, as far as we know, grow up in the sea and rise from there up the rivers to throw eggs, while the eel, on the contrary, keeps in fresh water at a young age and then goes down the rivers to spawn. sea. When the eel wanders along the rivers, neither rapids nor waterfalls can stop him; for example, the high Narva waterfall, which serves as an insurmountable barrier for salmon, does not at all constitute a similar barrier for eels. It is not known, however, with accuracy how the eel gets over the steep waterfalls it meets, like the Narva one, especially since it cannot make high jumps. In all likelihood, he bypasses them, crawling over wet coastal rocks; at least it is true that he knows how to crawl very dexterously on wet ground and can live out of water for up to half a day or more. The reason for the survivability of the eel out of water is that the gill leaves, due to the elongated shape of the gill cavity and the narrowness of the gill openings, remain moist for a very long time, capable of supporting the process of respiration.

The eel prefers to adhere to waters with clay or muddy soil and, on the contrary, if possible, avoids rivers and lakes, which have a sandy or rocky bottom. In particular, he likes to rotate between sedge and reeds in summer. So, for example, a very significant eel fishing is carried out along the southern coast of the Kronstadt Bay, in those reeds that humiliate the coast near the Sergius Monastery, and beyond Oranienbaum. Here, fishermen distinguish two varieties of it - running eel and herbalist (sedentary). Fishermen lay clearings or paths in the reeds, on which they set up fences for eels. It should be noted, however, that the eel is in motion only at night, while during the day it remains at rest - “lies in the mud, curled up like a rope,” in the words of our fishermen. In the same way, in winter, at least in our northern side, the eel remains motionless and burrows into the mud, according to Ekshtrem, to a depth of 46 cm.

The eel is a carnivorous fish, it feeds on both other fish and their caviar, and various small animals living in mud, crustaceans, worms, larvae, snails (Lumnaeus). Of the fish most often given to him as prey are those that, like him, rotate more along the bottom of the reservoir, such as sculpins and lampreys; but, by the way, he also seizes any other fish that he can catch, and therefore often falls on the hooks of the lines baited by the fishermen. I once happened to find in the stomach of a large eel the remains of a small chub, along with a hook, on which, probably, the fish was impaled, when the eel grabbed it and swallowed it. In spring and early summer, when almost everyone carp fish they spawn, the eel preferentially feeds on this caviar and exterminates a huge number. By the end of summer and autumn in the Kronstadt Bay, its main food is crustaceans, sharp-tailed idothea (Idothea entomon), which are known to fishermen as sea cockroaches. A very remarkable property of the eel is that, when caught and planted in a tight cage, it vomits out of the stomach a significant part of the food that has not yet had time to be digested, especially if the stomach is tightly stuffed with it. So, for example, he sometimes vomits whole snails, crustaceans, lampreys through his mouth. There is almost no way to hold a caught eel in your hands, as it is slippery, strong and dodgy. If you put it on the ground, then it moves along it quite quickly, forward or backward, depending on the need, and bends the body completely snake-like. It is quite difficult to kill an eel: the most terrible wounds are often not fatal for him. Only if you break his spinal column, then he dies relatively soon. In addition, muscle contractility is preserved for a very long time even in cut pieces of eel. I happened to observe the right moves mandible, alternating opening and closing of the mouth in the cut off head of an eel for more than a quarter of an hour. The clerk of a fish farm in St. Petersburg assured me that the most the right way to quickly kill an eel is to immerse it in salt water, but experience did not justify this assurance; the eel, which I placed in a strong saline solution, remained alive for more than two hours.

Some interesting information about the eel from Russian authors are given by Terletsky, who observed it in the basin of the Western Dvina. According to him, the eel lives here in many lakes, from which, along rivers, streams, even overland, it passes into big rivers and rolls down to spawn in the sea. Its course begins in May and continues all summer. During this time, he does not have a permanent home, but migrates from place to place. Idle eels, that is, those that do not breed this year, do not leave the lakes in which they live, and although they travel in rivers, but only for a certain distance. In ordinary water levels, the eel adheres to places deep, quiet, with a muddy, grassy or sandy bottom. With a high rise in water, it often occurs in coastal whirlpools, in which it crawls and digs even during the day. For the most part, it searches for food at night at the bottom, and during the day it digs into the silt, crawls under the roots of coastal trees, under stones, etc. greater distance. He kept eels in a special pool, on a stream, and from here carried them to a fairly considerable distance, even half a verst, and gave them freedom. “Experiments were made at dawn, in the evening and at night, on moist soil. Immediately, the eels, bending ring-shaped like snakes, crawled quite freely and quite quickly, at first in different directions, but then soon turned towards the river and headed towards it in a more or less direct direction. They changed their path only when they encountered sand or bare earth, which they diligently avoided. Once on the square, sloping towards the river, they intensified to speed up their pace and, apparently, were in a hurry to get to their native element as soon as possible. Two, three or even more hours eel can freely stay out of the water on a warm day. It can stagger on land from evening until sunrise, especially if the night is dewy.

Until recently, the reproduction of eels has remained very obscure, and even to this day it has not yet been fully investigated, which, of course, depends on the fact that the eel goes to sea for this purpose. (Danish ichthyologist Schmidt in the 20s of this century and others researchers have precisely established where, how and when eel spawning occurs.) ordinary conditions the eel grows rather slowly, not earlier than in the fifth or sixth year of life it reaches a length of 107 cm, but, however, continues to grow for a very long time, so that sometimes there are individuals that are up to 180 cm long and are thicker than a human arm. According to Kessler's observations, an eel, which is 47 cm long, weighs about 800 g, and an eel 98 cm long weighs about 1.5 kg; in addition, there are indications that an eel 122 cm tall weighs from 3 to 4 kg, and therefore it must be assumed that the largest eels should weigh at least 8 kg.

The family of eels includes several varieties of fish. They do not differ much from each other in appearance. The difference lies in the habitats. The most common species is river eel.

The common European eel can be blunt-nosed or narrow-headed. Predatory fish, not fully understood. External Description eel:

• Long serpentine body;
• The front is rounded;
• Part of the body from the anal zone to the tail is slightly flattened on the sides;
• The skin is slippery, covered with mucus;
• Caudal, dorsal and anal fins fused;
• Small head with small eyes;
• No ventral fins;
• Pectoral fins wide;
• Small mouth with protruding lower jaw.
• The teeth are small and sharp, arranged in several rows.
• The number of vertebrae is from 111 to 119.

There are scales, but they are very small and almost invisible. Fish are rarely larger than 2 meters. The average length of the river species is about 1 meter. Females are usually 5-10 centimeters longer than males. Weight in adulthood from 500 grams to 6 kilograms. Depending on how many years a fish lives, its weight also depends.

The color on the back varies from gray-brown to dark green. The belly is always lighter. Its color can be yellow, silvery white or yellowish white. Adults are distinguished by a more saturated color of the back and a lighter abdomen.

Photo 1. Eel in its native element.

Habitat

Eel is ancient fish, which appeared on Earth more than 100 million years ago in the ocean, off the coast of Indonesia. It was sea ​​view. Now she lives in the seas, rivers, lakes. But rivers are an intermediate place of residence. River or European eels live in river basins connected to the seas:

• Barents;
• White;
• Mediterranean;
• Baltic;
• Azov;
• Northern;
• Black.

They are also part of the ichthyofauna of many lakes and ponds located in the European part of Russia. Most a large number of This fish lives in the basins of the Baltic Sea.

Where there is a river view, the bottom is usually covered with mud or clay. The fish likes to live among thickets of reeds or reeds. One of the features of the river eel is the ability to crawl from one reservoir to another overland. So he gets into endorheic lakes. To live for some time without water, it is helped by the skin, which is able to absorb oxygen.

The fish lives in the waters quiet current, but sometimes found in fast-flowing reservoirs. The animal prefers to swim in lower layers water space, likes to hide in various bottom shelters: algae, boulders, burrows, snags. European look refers to freshwater fish.

reproduction

For a long time, how these animals reproduce was a mystery. Nobody saw their spawn. And only at the end of the 19th century, scientists proved that they breed like all other fish. But their eggs are so unlike their parents that for some time they were considered a separate species of fish. They were given the name - leptocephali.

Reproduction of adult eels occurs at 7-9 years of age. During this period, there are sexual differences between males and females. They go to sea to spawn. In accumulations of Sargasso algae at a depth of 400 meters and at a water temperature of +14 - +18 degrees, fish begin to breed. Females lay more eggs, averaging up to 500,000 larvae. When spawning is stopped, the eel dies.

The eggs are no larger than 1 mm in size. The eel larva is absolutely transparent, shaped like a leaf, compressed from the sides. Before turning into full-fledged fish, the larvae go through several stages:

1. Float to the surface and picked up warm current moving towards the shores of Europe. This period lasts for about three years. Their annual growth is insignificant.
2. Having reached a size of 7 centimeters, the larvae decrease by 1 centimeter and glass eels form from them.
3. The fish acquire an oval snake-like shape, but remain translucent.
4. In this form, they approach the mouths of rivers, and, moving upstream, lose their transparency, acquire color, and the young eel becomes an adult.

Photo 2. Glass eel.

Since the glass eel has become adult, he can live another 9-15 years. Then there is a return to the sea for spawning and inevitable death.

Behavioral features

Eel - predatory fish. He leads night image life. Young eels live near the shore, adults go deep to the bottom, burrow into the ground during the day. They can go underground up to 80 centimeters. Fish avoid places with a rocky bottom. They like muddy or cluttered bottoms to hide in.

As night approaches, eels leave their hiding places and go in search of food. They can swim to coastal zone, swim in the thicket aquatic plants. Animals move like snakes, slowly. They crawl along the ground only if it is wet and for short distances. Eels do not see well, but they have an excellent sense of smell. They can smell their prey for tens of meters and can navigate in complete darkness.

The river species lives in water saturated with oxygen. From mid-spring to the first frost, they lead an active lifestyle. But as soon as the cold comes, and the temperature of the water drops, they stop eating. In winter, eels fall into a motionless state and look like frozen snags sticking out of the ground. These are their heads, and the rest of the body is buried. In the spring, they become active and begin to eat off during the long winter period.

The main diet of acne includes:

• small fish;
• caviar of other fish;
• frogs;
• snails;
• shellfish;
• larvae;
• newts.

A large accumulation of eels can be found in water bodies where pike and tench are found. They love to eat these fish. There are many of them in the habitats of vendace. They prefer carp caviar. After spending about 5 years in the reservoir, the predator acquires hunting skills from ambush and eats prey at the bottom: perches, smelt, ruffs, roach and other small fish.

Photo 3. An eel, like a snake, is able to move on land.

Lures and accessories for fishing

Understanding what to catch an eel is not difficult, given that it is a predator. Small fish, worms, pieces of meat can serve as bait. Small fish are well suited if eel fishing is carried out with a donk. It is better to use a lot of worms at once, or it should be one big worm. For one large worm, the bite will be better.

This fish is very resourceful and agile. She has the ability to cling to branches and other objects at the bottom. Not a single fish knows how, as it does, to resist, moving backwards and wriggling, in the water, like a snake. Since catching this animal is not an easy task, it is important to prepare strong gear. The rod must withstand weight up to 40 kilograms, and its length must be at least 3-4 meters.

The caught predator will not gnaw through the fishing line, but it is able to grind thin tackle with sharp teeth while trying to break away. It is impossible to pull out the caught fish by hand; for this, a large landing net is used. The tail must not hang from the landing net when taken, otherwise the eel will twist and slip away. The fish is removed from the hook just before it is transferred to the net. It should be kept in a fine, strong mesh. If there is at least one hole in it or damage to the average diameter, the eel can easily slip away.

The numerous family of conger eels is represented by more than 180 species that are found exclusively in sea and ocean waters. Lightly salted and fresh water unsuitable for their habitat. Differences between representatives of all species are very minor and relate mostly to the habitat of eels.

The conger (sea eel) is significantly larger and heavier than the river eel. Females can be up to 2.40 m long, rarely up to 3 m, and weigh over 100 kg, males reach a maximum length of 1.30 m, their average size is much smaller. The body diameter is more than 20 cm. The head and mouth are also much larger.

The body is long, serpentine, devoid of scales. The head is somewhat flattened. A large mouth with thick lips is located at the end of the snout. Both jaws have two rows of teeth. The outer rows of large, closely spaced, incisor-shaped teeth form the cutting edges. In the inner rows, the teeth are small, conical, pointed. There are large conical teeth on the palate and vomer. Long dorsal with 275-300 soft rays begins behind the pectoral fins. The dorsal and anal fins merge with the caudal fin. The pectoral fins are pointed. The lateral line runs along the entire body. Vertebrae 153-164.

The body color is dark gray or brown, the belly is light brown or golden. The dorsal and anal fins are light brown with a black border. Lateral line pores white.

Habitat

The distribution range of conger eels is quite wide and includes warm waters Indian, Pacific and Atlantic Oceans and adjacent seas. Some types of conger eels tolerate colder waters better and can be found in the Mediterranean and North Atlantic. In the Northern, Baltic and Black Sea sea ​​eel fish swim quite rarely. These fish are inhabitants of both the coastal zone and the open sea, not sinking deeper than 500 m.

This predatory fish appeared more than 100 million years ago in the vastness of the ocean near Indonesia. Initially, the eel was exclusively sea ​​fish. But over time, the eel began to spread throughout the world and began to live in rivers and lakes. According to their specificity, rivers are considered an intermediate habitat. river eels, as well as sea ones, are mainly distributed in rivers that flow into the following seas:

• White.
• Barents.
• Baltic.
• Azov.
• Mediterranean.
• Black.

In addition to the listed seas, eels are located in many lakes and ponds. The largest number of individuals lives in the Baltic Sea.

Lifestyle

Eels are nocturnal and prefer to sleep in a secluded place during the day. They are voracious predators by nature. powerful teeth. The basis of the diet is small fish, crustaceans and mollusks. They will not miss the catch entangled in fishing nets. Not possessing good eyesight, eel fish prefer to lie in wait for prey in ambush, because thanks to their excellent sense of smell, they feel it from afar. There are types of eels that disguise themselves as bottom vegetation. A vertical hole in the ground with the help of a strong tail and leaning halfway out of it, conger eels are waiting for prey. In case of danger, they immediately hide in the hole completely.

After reaching sexual maturity (5 to 15 years), conger eels are ready to breed. In size, females are much larger than males. For spawning, these fish go on a long journey, ending in summer in the eastern part of the Atlantic or in the Mediterranean Sea. Necessary condition is a depth of at least 3000 m. Eel spawning is the first and only in their life. After the female marks 3 to 8 million tiny eggs, the parents die. The larvae hatched from the eggs (leptocephals) are carried by currents over great distances.

Economic importance

valuable commercial fish. World catches in 1996-2012 varied from 13.2 to 19.5 thousand tons. Fishing is carried out with bottom trawls and longlines.

Available fresh and frozen. The meat is tasty, suitable for smoking. Used for making preserves. Like many eels, the blood of the conger contains toxic substances that are destroyed when heated, under the action of acids and alkalis. Poisonous properties are manifested only when the blood serum of these fish is injected. In connection with this feature, the conger is considered a passively poisonous fish.

Record catches

The IGFA registered conger eel record is 60kg 440g and was set by Vic Evans, a Brixham (UK) skipper, in June 1995.

Over the past decades, professional fishermen have periodically caught large congers. The largest, weighing almost 160 kg, was caught off the Vestmannaeyjar Islands (near Iceland). With a maximum mass of about 150 kg, conger eels reach a length of 3 m. Their powerful jaws are studded with small teeth that can cause serious wounds.

Places and times of fishing

Sea eels are hooked near their hiding places. They prefer areas with sandy bottoms and large rocks. These are promising places for fishing, because after hooking the fish cannot hide in the crevices of the rocks. Conger hunts mainly at night in shallow water, "combing" the waters of ports along the breakwaters and rocky shores. Since June, these predators have been regularly caught off the coast of England. But best time for their capture, the beginning is mid-September. With the first autumn storms, the fishing season ends.

This is interesting! In the UK, a distinction is made between record fish caught from the shore and from a boat. The maximum mass of conger eels caught from the shore is from 30 to 35 kg. But most often fish from the shore are caught from 3 to 15 kg.

Where do the largest eels live?

The largest specimens of the conger are annually caught over sunken ships in the English Channel. Fish up to 35 kg are harvested from reefs in the western part of the English Channel. Reef eels are not always smaller than their brethren caught over shipwrecks. However, underwater reefs, due to their large extent, cannot be fished as effectively as the area of ​​a sunken ship, where fish are concentrated.

Some sunken ships in less accessible areas of the sea have become a haven for numerous small congers weighing from 7.5 to 20 kg. On some days a catch of 20 or 30 eels per angler is considered normal. Above the wrecks, where intensive fishing is carried out, there are not so many eels, but they are larger. If trophy eel hunters fish near heavily fished wrecks, they will be content with only one or two fish per angler. But on the other hand, these will be copies of more than 25 kg.

This is interesting! Vic Evans' record conger, like all the largest conger eels of the past 30 years, was caught from a wreck that lies no more than 10 miles from the coast.

Features in cooking

Fish is especially popular in Japan. In this country, they believe that the meat of these creatures perfectly tones and improves performance. Useful fish oil eel prevents heart disease. The pulp contains many proteins, fatty polyunsaturated and saturated acids, which help rejuvenate cells and get rid of nervous diseases.

Sea eel valued in diet food. Fish, beneficial features meat which is hard to overestimate, very nutritious. It contains potassium and iodine. And, as you know, these minerals help strengthen the heart muscle and protect our thyroid gland. Sea eel meat has a low calorie content, which is very important for dietary nutrition.

It contains a wide range of valuable vitamins (A, B, E, D) and protein. Regular use of this delicacy in any variation strengthens the immune system, has a beneficial effect on the entire body as a whole. Dishes from it are shown for gout, rheumatism, malaise, depression, CNS disease, atherosclerosis. Looking at the Japanese, who periodically eat fish and are distinguished by good health and high performance, you can see healing properties meat of this predator.

The eel family consists of several species. In appearance, there is little difference between them. Their difference mainly lies in the habitat. The most famous representative of this family is the river eel. In many countries, this species of the eel family is a delicacy. But due to the unappetizing appearance of eel, not everyone will agree to taste it. But in vain, because it contains a huge amount of useful minerals and proteins that can strengthen human immunity.

Description

In appearance, the river eel can be narrow-headed and blunt-nosed. Fish belong to the family of predators. Unfortunately, this fish has not been fully studied. River eel is characterized by:

On the body of the river eel there are small scales. Their size is so small that they are almost invisible. . In exceptional cases, body length fish can exceed 2 meters. As a rule, the standard body length of the fish is 1 meter. The females are slightly longer than the males. Usually 5-10 cm. The mass of mature fish can reach 6 kilograms. The river eel gains weight all his life. Therefore, it is generally accepted that the older the fish, the more it weighs.

River eels have a predominantly dark green dorsal coloration. There are individuals with a brownish tint. The belly area is always light. As they mature, individuals acquire a more saturated color of the back, and their abdomen becomes lighter.

Do not forget that in addition to the river eel, there is also a conger eel. Distinguishes him from his brother larger size. Its mass can reach 100 kilograms, and its body length can be more than 3 meters. Just like the river counterpart, marine predator, an elongated body that is completely devoid of scales. As a rule, the head, with thick lips, is slightly wider than the end of the body. Almost all individuals of this species have a brown back. Light belly when hit sunlight reflected in a golden glow. On the tail of the conger eel is a line of dark color, giving the conger eel a peculiar outline. It is worth noting that the tail is much lighter than the entire body.

Habitat

This predatory fish appeared more than 100 million years ago in the vastness of the ocean near Indonesia. Initially, the eel was exclusively marine fish. But over time, the eel began to spread throughout the world and began to live in rivers and lakes. According to their specificity, rivers are considered an intermediate habitat. river eels, as well as sea ones, are mainly distributed in rivers that flow into the following seas:

In addition to the listed seas, eels are located in many lakes and ponds. The largest number of individuals lives in the Baltic Sea.

River fish eel can be found in reservoirs with lots of mud. The most favorite habitat is the area overgrown with reeds. The fish has a unique ability: it is able to crawl over land from one reservoir to another. In this way, the eel can reach the endorheic lake. The fish feels great out of the water due to the skin, which can absorb oxygen.

Basically, the fish lives in reservoirs with a small current, but sometimes it can be found in fast-flowing rivers. The eel prefers swimming in the lower region of water bodies.

reproduction

For a long time, the process of reproduction of these animals was a mystery to everyone. No one has ever seen what their caviar looks like. But, at the end of the nineteenth century, scientists proved that the process of their reproduction occurs in exactly the same way as in all other fish. Appearance eggs are significantly different from their parents. Therefore, for some time they were considered a separate species and even gave it a name - leptocephaly.

The fertilization period begins at the 9th year of life of individuals. It is at this time that you can distinguish the male from the female. Fish go to sea to spawn. In thickets of sargasso algae, descending to a depth of 400 meters, the process of reproduction begins. It is worth noting that the water temperature for the fertilization process should not be less than 14 degrees and not exceed 18 degrees. Basically, the female lays 500 thousand larvae. After the end of spawning, the eel dies.

The size of the eggs does not exceed 1 mm. The body of the larva is completely transparent. Its shape resembles a leaf compressed on the sides. To become a full-fledged fish, the larva must go through several stages:

After the larva has become a full-fledged fish, it lives up to a maximum of 15 years. Then it goes to spawn, where inevitable death awaits it.

Characteristics of behavior

By nature, fish are predators. It is predominantly active at night. Juveniles most of the time spend on the coast, while already adults try to go closer to the bottom, where, burrowing into the ground, they hide from daylight. The depth of the shelter can be up to 80 centimeters. Mostly fish choose muddy terrain as shelter, trying to avoid rocky ground.

As night falls, the eels come out of their hiding place and go hunting. Fish move rather slowly, like snakes. They can move on land only if it is wet. Poor eyesight is compensated by an excellent sense of smell. They are able to smell prey at a distance of up to 20 meters.

River fish live in water enriched with oxygen. Animals are activated in early spring and lead a mobile lifestyle until the onset of frost. With the onset of cold, the fish hibernate. It looks like driftwood sticking out of the ground. Moreover, only the head is in the form of a snag, when, like the rest of the body, it is securely hidden in its shelter. After the end of the cold season, eels become active again and begin to search for food.

Very often you can meet this predator in reservoirs where pike live. It is this fish that is the most delicious treat. And also carp caviar belongs to the favorite dish. Having lived in the reservoir for about 5 years, the predator acquires the ability to hunt from cover. All caught prey fish eats at the bottom.