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 allied. 



ANGUILLA CHRYSYPA RAfinesque 



(AMERICAN EEL; FRESH-WATER EEL) 



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



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

 I, 348; N., 51 (vulgaris var. rostrata); J., 68 (rostrata); F., 71 (rostrata); 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 vari- 

 able, usually nearly plain greenish brown, often more or less tinged 

 with yellowish ; 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 S 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 broadly 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 distance 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 im- 

 bedded, the oblique rows taking a zigzag direction; lateral line devel- 

 oped, 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 jn 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 2\ and 3 feet long. A 

 specimen 34 inches long recently caught at Havana weighed 3f 

 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 



* In a specimen 2\ feet long 150 scales were counted on one square inch of surface 

 of side of body, half way between tip of tail and vent. 



