112 
BULLETIN OF THE BUBEAU OF FISHEBIES 
31. Genus ANGUILLA Shaw. Common eels 
Mouth large, the lower jaw projecting; nostrils well separated, the anterior one tubular; dorsal 
and anal fins long, the origin of the dorsal not near the head. A single species is known from Ameri- 
can waters. 
42. Anguilla rostrata (LeSueur). Common eel; Fresh-water eel. 
Mursena rostrata LeSueur, Jour., Ac. Nat. Sci., Phila., V, 1817, p. 81; Lakes Cayuga and Geneva, N. Y. 
Anguilla bostoniensis Uhler and Lugger, 1876, ed. I, p. 181; ed. II, p. 153. 
Anguilla rostrata Bean, 1883, p. 367; Bean, 1891, p. 94. 
Anguilla anguilla Smith, 1892, p. 69. 
Anguilla chrysypa Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 318, PL LV, fig. 143; Smith and Bean, 1899, p. 183; Fowler, 1912, p. 52. 
Head 7.4 to 8.5 in total length; depth variable 1.65 to 2.65 in head. Body elongate, round 
anteriorly, compressed posteriorly; head of moderate length; snout rather pointed, 4 to 5.5 in head; 
eye 9.5 to 12; interorbital 8.5 to 8; mouth large, slightly oblique, reaching opposite middle of eyes; 
lower jaw projecting; anterior nostril situated on upper lip, provided with a tube; lateral line well 
developed, complete; scales small, imbedded, linear, arranged in groups, mostly at right angles to 
each other; origin of dorsal from 1.5 to nearly 2 times the length of head behind the gill slit; pre- 
dorsal length of body 2.8 to 3.2 in total length; the dorsal and anal fins low, continuous with the 
caudal fin, which is round; pectoral fins moderate, proportionately longer in the adult than in the 
young; posterior margin round, the median rays longest, 2.65 (in adults) to 6 (in young) in head. 
Color uniform greenish brown to yellowish brown above; white below. 
Numerous specimens, all of the adult form, ranging from the glass stage, 48 millimeters long 
to adults of 740 millimeters (1J^ to 2934 inches), are represented in the Chesapeake collection. 
The young or larval form, known as the leptocephalus, has not yet been taken in Chesapeake Bay 
nor within the immediate vicinity of the shore anywhere along the American coast. 
The eel is an omnivorous feeder. It is reported to be very destructive of other fish and even 
of one another and of the spawn of shad, herring, etc. Stomachs of 31 Chesapeake Bay specimens, 
ranging from 1434 to 2934 inches in length, examined by Linton, had fed on crustaceans, annelids, 
fish, echinoderms, mollusks, and eel grass, named in the order of the abundance in which they were 
found in the stomachs examined, beginning with the most common one. Thirteen stomachs of 
small examples, 2 to 8 inches in length, from various sections of the bay, examined by us, had fed 
mainly on amphipods and isopods. Three stomachs also contained fragments of a segmented worm 
bearing bristles; one contained the siphon of a mollusk, another a portion of a tunicate, and three 
specimens contained plant leaves or stems or both. 
The life history of the eel is very complicated but extremely interesting. Although the female 
fresh-water eel spends most of its adult life in fresh water, it runs far out to sea to spawn. 
Exactly where its spawning grounds are probably is not yet definitely known, although, with 
reference to the European and American eels, Dr. Johannes Schmidt is quoted 8 as saying: 
8 Fisheries Service Bulletin, Aug. 2, 1920, No. 63, p. 3 (United States Bureau of Fisheries). For an extensive account of the 
life history of fresh-water eels see Johs. Schmidt, IV.— The Breeding Places of the Eel. Philosophical Transactions, Royal Society 
of London, senes B, vol. 211, 1922 (1923), pp. 179 to 208, pis. 17-18. 
