The American eel: A fish of mystery and sustenance for humans
In: Humanity and the Sea. Springer: Dordrecht. ISSN 2213-607X; e-ISSN 2213-6088, more
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| Keywords |
Protection
Resources > Natural resources > Food resources
Spawning grounds
Anguilla rostrata (Lesueur, 1817) [WoRMS]; Anguillidae Rafinesque, 1810 [WoRMS]
Marine/Coastal; Brackish water; Fresh water |
| Authors | | Top |
- Miller, M.J.
- Casselman, J.M.
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| Abstract |
The American eel, Anguilla rostrata, is, in many ways, a typical anguillid in body shape and size and life cycle (Fig. 11.1), and also in that people who encountered it and needed sustenance always found it to be excellent food. It lives in watersheds adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean from the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico to Atlantic Canada (Fig. 11.2) and it has been caught and eaten by humans in all parts of its range at one time or another. The American eel has been important in the lives of many people historically and still is today, but its importance has been largely unnoticed by many. Probably as much as for any anguillid eel in the world, however, anthropogenic activities and particularly dam-building have reduced the area in which the species once lived (Fig. 11.2). |
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