eel

1. Any of various long, snakelike, scaleless marine or freshwater fishes of the order Anguilliformes or Apodes that lack pelvic fins and characteristically migrate from fresh water to salt water to spawn.
2. Any of several similar fishes, such as the lamprey and electric eel.

[Middle English ele, from Old English ǣl.]

The name for a number of unrelated fish included in the orders Anguilliformes and Cypriniformes.

The true eels are members of the Anguilliformes, which is also known as the Apodes (see table). There are several hundred species, most of which are marine. They are most common in the shallower waters of tropical and subtropical seas, although a few species do occur in colder waters or at considerable depths. See also Anguilliformes.

The family Gymnotidae of the order Cypriniformes contains about 32 species which are found in fresh waters of Central and South America. The electric eel (Electrophorus electricus), the largest and best-known species of the family, may grow to a length of 8 ft (2.4 m) and weigh 60 lb (27 kg). It can produce an electric shock from its electric organs, which extend almost the length of the body. The bodies of the members of this family are eellike and may be naked or scaled. See also Cypriniformes; Electric organ (biology).

A long thin fish, Anguilla anguilla; the conger eel is Conger myriaster. Eels live in rivers but go to sea to breed. A 100-g portion is a rich source of protein, niacin, and vitamins A, D, and B₁₂; a good source of niacin and vitamin B₂; a source of vitamins B₁ and B₆; contains 20 g of fat and supplies 300 kcal (1260 kJ).

The legends of eels have colored folklore throughout the ages. Some Philippine tribes say that eels are the souls of the dead, while in parts of Europe it's believed that rubbing the skin with eel oil will cause a person to see fairies. Whatever their origin or exterior application, eels are widely popular in Europe and Japan, where many consider their rich, sweet, firm meat a delicacy. This rather long, snakelike fish-of which there are both freshwater and saltwater varieties-has a smooth, scaleless skin. It spawns at sea and dies shortly thereafter. The European and American eel breed deep in Atlantic waters near Bermuda. The minuscule, transparent eel larvae drift on ocean currents for enormous distances-their journey to Europe taking about 3 years-until they reach coastal areas. There they transform into tiny, wormlike elvers (baby eel) and begin wriggling up inland waterways and crossing boggy grounds to reach small ponds and streams. After about 10 years of living in this freshwater habitat, the eel begins its migration back to Atlantic waters where it spawns and dies. The conger eel, a scaleless, saltwater "monster" fish that can reach up to 10 feet long and weigh over 170 pounds, is a relative of the common eel. Fresh eels, depending on the region, are available year-round, the fall being the peak season. Those under 2 pounds will be more tender. Before cooking, the thick, tough skin and outer layer of fat must be removed-a task usually handled by the fish dealer. Fresh eel should be refrigerated and used within a day or two. It's excellent baked, stewed or grilled. Because conger eel meat is very tough, it is most often used in soups and stews. Eel is also available jellied in cans or smoked. Though considered a fatty fish, the eel is high in vitamins A and D, as well as being a good source of protein. See also fish.

For more information on eel, visit Britannica.com.

A common belief was that a long black horsehair thrown into a running stream instantly becomes a live eel or water snake. William Harrison, The Description of England (1587: 321) provides an early reference, although he reserved judgement on the truth of the matter, and in the early 19th century the author of the Denham Tracts (1895: ii. 29) admits to trying it himself as a boy in the north of England. Correspondence in N&Q (7s:2-4 (1886-7) under the heading ‘Animated Horsehairs’ indicates that this had been a very widely held notion in England, Scotland, and elsewhere, at all levels of society well into the late 19th century.

A different correspondent in N&Q reported a belief in eels as a cure for deafness. A woman at Lochleven, who was putting live eels into a bag, told him they were being sent to England to cure a lady of her deafness, and that this was a regular occurrence. Asked if she herself believed in the cure, she answered, ‘Od, I dinna ken, sir, but thae English doctors shudken’. (N&Q 5s:9 (1878), 65). A more generally reported medical use of eels was (and perhaps still is) to wear their skins as a garter as a preventative for cramp, or a cure for rheumatism. Enid Porter (1969: 47, 67, 72, 86-7) gives a full description of how to prepare the skin, plus other eel lore, and Opie and Tatem (1989: 132) give references starting in 1684. A further belief, not confined to Britain, asserts that eels like fish, are killed by thunder (N&Q 10s:2 (1904), 331-2).

The snake-like marine or freshwater fish (order Anguilliformes or Apodes) does not play as important a role in the Celtic imagination as it does elsewhere. Often the eel appears malevolent. The Irish goddess Mórrígan once came to Cúchulainn in the form of an eel, but he repulsed her. Lake monsters may conventionally be referred to as eels. In the west of Ireland whistling eels were thought to foretell famine. Yet at other times eels might be benevolent, such as those thought to be the guardian spirits of wells and magic springs. Pilgrims at the sacred well of Tober Monachan, Co. Kerry, were given the sight of a salmon and an eel, if their petition was to be granted. Modern Irish eascann; Scottish Gaelic easgann; Manx astan; Welsh Ilysywen; Cornish sylly; Breton silienn.

The eel, popularly known for the electrical properties of some species, has been credited with many marvelous virtues. If left to die out of the water, its body steeped in strong vinegar and the blood of a vulture, and the whole placed under a dung-hill, the composition is said to be able to raise from the dead anything brought to it and give it life as before. It has also been said that anyone who eats the still-warm heart of an eel will be seized with the spirit of prophecy and will predict things to come.

Eels figure in the folklore of many countries. The Egyptians worshiped the eel, which their priests alone had the right to eat. In Polynesian, Melanesian, and Indonesian stories, men are sometimes transformed into eels. In the Philippines, eels were believed to be the souls of the dead. In New Zealand, an eel head was eaten to cure toothache. In other countries, eel skins were laid on wounds to heal them. In the United States, there was a folk tradition that eels eat human flesh, and some fishermen were reputed to have caught large quantities of eels with human bait.

In the eighteenth century, magic eels were made of flour and the juice of mutton. There is an anecdote told by William of Malmesbury about a dean of the church of Elgin, in the county of Moray in Scotland, who, having refused to cede his church to some pious monks, was changed, with all his canons, into eels, which the brother cook made into a stew.

Elongated, serpent-like fish with no scales. Most are marine species but there are some freshwater types. They are members of the order Apodes and constitute a number of suborders.

• e. rhabdovirus — several isolates from eels have not been shown to be associated with disease in eels, but some are pathogenic for trout and salmon.
• e. stomatopapilloma — thought to be a viral infection.
• e. stripe — see dorsal stripe.

Eels embody many of the meanings of snakes or serpents, although their watery habitat links them more explicitly with the powers of the unconscious. As phallic symbols, they indicate unconscious sexual desires. They may also symbolize something in the unconscious of which we are afraid.

For other uses, see Eel (disambiguation).

True eels Fossil range: Cretaceous–Recent PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N [1]
American eel, Anguilla rostrata
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Actinopterygii Superorder: Elopomorpha Order: Anguilliformes
Suborders
Anguilloidei Congroidei Nemichthyoidei Synaphobranchoidei

True eels (Anguilliformes; pronounced /æŋɡwɪləfɒrmiːz/) are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 19 families, 110 genera and approximately 600 species. Most eels are predators. The term "eel" is also used for some other similarly shaped fish, such as electric eels and spiny eels, but these are not members of the Anguilliformes order.

Contents 1 Description 2 Classification 3 Suborders and families 4 Use by humans 5 Name 6 Further information 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

Description

True eels are elongated fishes, ranging in length from 5 centimetres (2.0 in) in the one-jawed eel (Monognathus ahlstromi) to 3.75 metres (12.3 ft) in the giant moray.^[2] They possess no pelvic fins, and many species also lack pectoral fins. The dorsal and anal fins are fused with the caudal or tail fin, to form a single ribbon running along much of the length of the animal.^[1] Most true eels prefer to dwell in shallow waters or hide at the bottom layer of the ocean, sometimes in holes. These holes are called eel pits. Only the Anguillidae family regularly lives in fresh water, and returning to the sea to breed. Some eels dwell in water as deep as 4,000 metres (13,000 ft), or are active swimmers (the family Nemichthyidae — to a depth of 500 metres (1,600 ft).

Eels possess a flat and transparent larva, called a leptocephalus. These drift in the surface waters of the sea feeding on dissolved nutrients, before developing first into glass eels and then into a young eel, referred to as an elver, and seeking out the adult habitat.^[2]

Classification

A moray eel.

Juvenile American eels

Garden eels

This classification follows FishBase in dividing the eels into fifteen families. Additional families that are included in other classifications (notably ITIS and Systema Naturae 2000) are noted below the family with which they are synomized in the Fish Base system.

Suborders and families

Suborder Anguilloidei

• Anguillidae (freshwater eels)
• Chlopsidae (false morays)
• Heterenchelyidae (mud eels)
• Moringuidae (spaghetti eels)
• Muraenidae (moray eels)
• Myrocongridae (thin eels)

Suborder Congroidei

• Colocongridae (worm eels)
• Congridae (congers)
  • Including Macrocephenchelyidae
• Derichthyidae (longneck eels)
  • Including Nessorhamphidae
• Muraenesocidae (pike congers)
• Nettastomatidae (duckbill eels)
• Ophichthidae (snake eels)

Suborder Nemichthyoidei

• Nemichthyidae (snipe eels)
• Serrivomeridae (sawtooth eels)

Suborder Synaphobranchoidei

• Synaphobranchidae (cutthroat eels)
  • Including Dysommidae, Nettodaridae, and Simenchelyidae

In some classifications the family Cyematidae of bobtail snipe eels is included in the Anguilliformes, but in the FishBase system that family is included in the order Saccopharyngiformes.

The electric eel of South America is not a true eel, but is more closely related to the Carp.

Use by humans

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Unagi - broiled (kabayaki) eel on rice, served in a lacquered meal box)

Eel trap in Denmark around 1900

Freshwater eels (unagi) and marine eels (conger eel, anago) are commonly used in Japanese cuisine - foods such as Unadon and Unajuu are popular but expensive. Eels are also very popular as food in Chinese cuisine, particularly Cantonese and Shanghai cuisine. Eel prices in Hong Kong often reached ¥1000 per kilogram, and even exceeded ¥5000 per kilogram at one time. Eel is also popular in Korean cuisine and is seen as a source of "stamina" for men. The European eel and other freshwater eels are eaten in Europe, the United States, and other places around the world. A traditional East London food is jellied eels although demand for them has reduced significantly since the end of World War II. The Basque delicacy angulas consists of deep-fried elver (young eels).[1]. New Zealand longfin eel is a traditional food for Māori in New Zealand. In Italian cuisine eels from the Comacchio area (a swampy zone along the Adriatic coast) are specially prized along with the freshwater ones of the Bolsena Lake. In northern Germany, The Netherlands and in Sweden, smoked eel is considered a delicacy.

Eels are popular among marine aquarists in the United States, particularly the Moray eel which is commonly kept in tropical saltwater aquariums.

Elvers were once eaten by fishermen as a cheap dish, but environmental changes have led to increased rarity of the fish. They are now considered a delicacy and are priced at up to £700 per kg in the United Kingdom.^{[citation needed]}

Name

The English name eel descends from Old English ǽl, Common Germanic *ǣlaz. Also from the common Germanic are Middle Dutch ael, Old High German âl, Old Norse áll. Katz (1998)^[3] identifies a number of Indo-European cognates, among them the second part of the Latin name of the eels, anguilla, which is attested in its simplex form illa in a glossary only, and likewise the Greek word for "eel", egkhelys, the second part being attested in Hesychius as elyes. The first compound member, anguis "snake", is cognate to other Indo-European words for "snake", cf. Old Irish escung "eel", Old High German unc "snake", Lithuanian angìs, Greek ophis, okhis, Vedic Sanskrit áhi, Avestan aži, Armenian auj, iž, Old Church Slavonic *ǫžь, all from Proto-Indo-European *og^uhis, ēg^uhis. The word also appears in Old English igil "hedgehog" (named as the "snake eater"), and perhaps in the egi- of Old High German egidehsa "wall lizard". The name of Bellerophon (Βελλερόντης, attested in a variant Ἐλλεροφόντης in Eustathius of Thessalonica) according to this theory is also related, translating to "the slayer of the serpent" (ahihán), the ελλερο- being an adjective for a lost ελλυ- "snake", directly comparable to Hittite ellu-essar- "snake pit". This myth likely came to Greece via Anatolia, and in the Hittite version, the dragon is called Illuyanka, the illuy- part being cognate to the illa word, and the -anka part being cognate to the angu word for "snake". From these forms, no unambiguous Proto-Indo-European form for the eel word can be reconstructed, it could have been *ēl(l)-u-, *ēl(l)-o- or similar.

Further information

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (January 2009)

Eel blood is toxic, but the toxic protein it contains is destroyed by cooking. The toxin derived from eel blood serum was used by Charles Richet in his Nobel winning research which discovered anaphylaxis (by injecting it into dogs and observing the effect).

One of the famous attractions of the Pacific island of Huahine (part of the Society Islands in French Polynesia), is the bridge that crosses over a stream with 3- to 6-foot (1.8 m) long eels. These eels are deemed sacred by local mythology.

See also

• Eel life history

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "Anguilliformes". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. January 2009 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2009.
2. ^ ^{a b} McCosker, John F. (1998). Paxton, J.R. & Eschmeyer, W.N.. ed. Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 86-90. ISBN 0-12-547665-5. 
3. ^ J. Katz, 'How to be a Dragon in Indo-European: Hittite illuyankas and its Linguistic and Cultural Congeners in Latin, Greek, and Germanic', in: Mír Curad. Studies in Honor of Calvert Watkins, ed. Jasanoff, Melchert, Oliver, Innsbruck 1998, 317–334.

External links

• "Anguilliformes". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. January 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
• Anguilliformes (TSN 161123). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved on 04 June 2008.

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - ål, åleglat person

Nederlands (Dutch)
aal, paling, gladjakker

Français (French)
n. - anguille

Deutsch (German)
n. - Aal

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (ζωολ.) χέλι

Italiano (Italian)
anguilla

Português (Portuguese)
n. - enguia (f) (Zool.)

Русский (Russian)
угорь

Español (Spanish)
n. - anguila

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - ål

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
鳗鱼, 圆滑的人, 鳝鱼

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 鰻魚, 圓滑的人, 鱔魚

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 뱀장어

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - ウナギ, ウナギに似た魚, 鰻
v. - ウナギ釣りをする, くねくね動く

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) الانقليس ( سمك)‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮צלופח, אדם חלקלק או חמקמק‬

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