Will migrate to estuaries during summer months to feed or as a nursery may enter freshwater. Habitat: Coastal waters of muddy and sandy bottoms. Most of the eels caught in the Bay region are exported overseas.ĭistribution: Western Atlantic, NY to Southern FL, Eastern and Northern Gulf of Mexico to Northern Mexico. Importance to humans: fisheries, commercial, gamefish, aquariumĬonservation status: not evaluated Fun fact: Asia and Europe eels are considered a delicacy. Predators: Larger fish, birds (gulls, eagles, ospreys) Larvae (transparent leptocephali shaped somewhat like a willow leaf) hatch and develop at sea to metamorphose into elvers in nearshore waters and estuaries. Sexual maturity occurs approximately in less than 10 years and up to 40 years in freshwater. Reproduction: Migrate in autumn to the Sargasso Sea to spawn. Pectoral girdle with 7 to 9 (up to 11 in the young) radial elements.Ĭoloration: Adults usually white or light-colored below and brownish to blue-black above, but coloration is variable young with some yellow on the edges of the dorsal and anal fins.įeeding habits/specializations: Feed on larvae of Ephemeroptera, Odonata, Plecoptera, Coleoptera, Trichoptera, and Lepidoptera, as well as gastropods, oligochaetes, amphipods, isopods, mysids, and fish from the families Percidae, Cyprinidae, Ictaluridae, Catostomidae and Anguillidae. Frontal bones paired, not grown together. Premaxillae not developed as distinct elements in adults. Caudal vertebrae without transverse processes. Head rather long eyes small and placed well forward on head. Continuous fin stretching around the tail from the back to the belly. Key characteristics for distinction: No spines. Hide during the day in undercut banks and in deep pools near logs and boulders. Habitat: Occur in streams, rivers, muddy or silt-bottomed lakes usually in permanent streams with continuous flow. Only a select few of these species are on exhibit at any time, though all are representative of Freshwater Angler habitats. Nothing satisfies like the sing of fishing line running off the spool and setting the hook on a lunker! If you are not getting any strikes, you get to relax in the shade trees with feet dangled in the cool water, take in the scenic waterways with numerous boats coming and going, and contrive fish tales about the ones that got away. Black crappie, sunfish, trophy bass, 5 foot catfish and more lurk here.
Pick up your poles and tackle, drive to the nearest boat landing or public dock, and toss in a line. It is an easily accessible portal into the natural world. It was once submerged by seas when the Earth was a warmer place and only became exposed as the polar glaciers formed. The Coastal Plain extends between the Piedmont - French for foothills - and Appalachian Mountains to the coast of the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean.
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