Article
Article
Eel
Article By:
Boschung, Herbert T. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Last reviewed:January 2020
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1036/1097-8542.213500
A fish in the order Anguilliformes (true eels), one of several orders of the superorder Elopomorpha, which share a leptocephalus (a slender, transparent larva with a long narrow) [Fig. 1] stage. The name eel also applies to other fishes similar in appearance to true eels, that is, having a serpentine body, lacking pectoral fins, and usually lacking scales. The true eels are classified into three suborders, 15 families, and about 791 species, only six of which are limited to freshwater. See also: Anguilliformes
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