ANGUILLA — EELS 59 



Genus ANGUILLA Shaw 



EELS 



Characters included in description of the family. Species not numer- 

 ous and those known not very well distinguished from each other, A . anguilla 

 of Europe, A. chrysypa of the eastern United States, and A. japonica of east 

 Asia being very closely aUied. 



ANGUILLA CHRYSYPA Eafinesque 



AMERICAN eel; FRESH- WATER EEL 



Rafinesque, 1817, Amer. Month. Mag. & Crit. Rev., 120. 



G., VIII. 31 (bostoniensis); J. & G., 361 (rostrata); M. V., 90 (anguilla); J. & E., 

 I, 348; N., 51 (vulgaris var. rostrata); J., 68 (rostrata); F., 71 (rostHiata); L,., 20. 



Length 3 to 4 feet, weight 5 to 8 lb; body serpentine, subcylindrical 

 anteriorly, compressed behind; depth in length 12 to 17. Color variable, 

 usually nearly plain greenish brown, often more or less tinged with yellow- 

 ish; belly paler, greenish gray. Head 7 or 8 in length, 2 to 2.5 in trunk 

 (distance from gill-openings to front of anal); interorbital space 5 to 7 in 

 head; eye 2 to 2.8; a single pair of short nasal barbels; mouth wide, maxillary 

 past orbit, lips thin, and lower jaw projecting; gill-membranes very broadlj^ 

 joined across isthmus, the gill-openings confined to the sides of the neck 

 below top of pectoral basis; jaws with bands of cardiform teeth; vomer 

 toothed. Dorsal fin inserted about head's length in front of anal, its dis- 

 tance from snout about 3 in length; dorso-caudal with about 60 rays to tip 

 of tail; pectorals very short, 3 in head; no ventrals. Scales minute*, oblong, 

 slender, and deeply imbedded, the oblique rows taking a zigzag direction; 

 lateral line developed, nearly straight. 



Atlantic and Gulf coasts and West Indies, ascending rivers; 

 not in the Pacific; found throughout the Mississippi Valley; in 

 all the larger streams of Illinois. Taken regularly in small 

 numbers from the Illinois River at Havana from deep water. 



The eel reaches a length of 3 to 4 feet and a weight of 4 to 

 6 lb. A majority of those taken are between 2i/2 ^^^ 3 feet long. 

 A specimen 34 inches long recently caught at Havana weighed 

 3% pounds. 



Eels prefer deep water with mud bottom. They are often 

 found in the mouths of shallow sloughs at night, and in such 

 places may be taken along with bullheads on trot-lines. They 

 are powerful and rapid swimmers, and can travel rapidly over 

 the ground, like snakes. They have been known to come up 



* In a specimen 2}4 feet long 15C scales were counted on one square inch of surface of side of 

 body, half way between tip of tail and vent. 



