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| American Eel |
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| Name and Code |
| Family |
| Anguillidae - freshwater eels |
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| Species |
| Anguilla rostrata |
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| Taxonomic Authority |
| (Lesueur 1817) |
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| Common Name(s) |
| American Eel |
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| French Name |
| anguille d'Amérique |
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| Conservation Status |
| Global Rank (GRank) |
| G4 (2011-10-20) |
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| National Rank (NRank) |
| N2N4N (2017-10-31) |
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| Provincial Rank (SRank) |
| S1S2 (2019-10-30) |
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| COSEWIC Status |
| Threatened (May 2012) |
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| SARO Status |
| Endangered (2013) |
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| Ecological Value |
| Ontario Origin |
| native/introduced |
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| Economic Importance |
| commercial fishery (historical) |
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| Length-Weight Regression Coefficents |
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| Habitat and Feeding |
| General Habitat(s) |
| lacustrine; riverine |
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| Trophic Class |
| invertivore/carnivore |
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| Habitat Preference |
| near cover over rock, sand and mud bottoms in lakes, ponds, rivers and creeks at depths <15 m; preferred water temperature range 16-19°C |
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| Reproduction |
| Reproductive Guild |
| Nonguarders: Open substratum spawners: Litho-pelagophils |
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| Spawning Habitat(s) |
| marine |
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| Spawning Month(s) |
| February-March |
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| Spawning Temperature (°C) |
| 17 |
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| Fecundity |
| 3,400,000-22,000,000 |
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| Nursery Habitat(s) |
| riverine; estuarine; marine |
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| Size and Age |
| Adult Length (cm) |
| 22.8-39.8 TL (m); 53.2-111 TL |
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| Adult Weight (kg) |
| 0.02-0.13 (m); 0.26-3.34 (f) |
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| Age at Maturity (yrs) |
| 5-15 (m); 12-23 (f) |
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| Maximum Length (cm) |
| 61 TL (m); 152 TL (f) |
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| Lifespan (yrs) |
| 6-16 (m); 13-24 (f) |
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| Ontario Records |
| Record Length (cm) |
| 120.0 TL |
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| Ontario Range Map |
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Ontario Distribution |
| Great Lakes and tributaries, St. Lawrence River and tributaries, Ottawa River and tributaries (extirpated); native to Lake Ontario, Ottawa River and St. Lawrence River watersheds |
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| Photographs |
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| Notes |
| catadromous life strategy, spawn in Sargasso Sea; adults semelparous; most eels in Ontario are female; Ontario populations have declined 99% since the 1970s; tolerant of turbidity |
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| Information Sources |
| Bailey, R.M., W.C. Latta, and G.R. Smith. 2004. An atlas of Michigan fishes with keys and illustrations for their identification. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology Miscellaneous Publications No. 192. iv + 215 pp. |
| Barbour, M.T., J. Gerritsen, B.D. Snyder, and J.B. Stribling. 1999. Tolerance and trophic guilds of selected fish species. Appendix C in Rapid bioassessment protocols for use in streams and wadeable rivers: periphyton, benthic macroinvertebrates and fish, second edition. EPA 841-B-99-002. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Office of Water. Washington, DC. |
| Becker, G.C. 1983. Fishes of Wisconsin. University of Wisconsin Press. Madison, WI. xii + 1052 pp. |
| Bernatchez, L. and M. Giroux. 2000. Les poissons d’eau douce du Québec et leur répartition dans l’Est du Canada. Broquet Inc. Saint-Constant, QC. 350 pp.
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| Carlander, K.D. 1969. Handbook of freshwater fishery biology. Volume one. Life history data on freshwater fishes of the United States and Canada, exclusive of the Perciformes. Iowa State University Press. Ames, IA. vi + 752 pp. |
| Coad, B.W. with H. Waszczuk and I. Labignan. 1995. Encyclopedia of Canadian fishes. Museum of Nature and Canadian Sportfishing Productions. Ottawa and Waterdown, ON. viii + 928 pp. |
| Coker, G.A., C.B. Portt, and C.K. Minns. 2001. Morphological and ecological characteristics of Canadian freshwater fishes. Can. MS Rpt. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 2554: iv + 89 p. |
| Cooper, E.L. 1983. Fishes of Pennsylvania and the northeastern United States. Pennsylvania State University Press. University Park and London. vii + 243 pp. |
| COSEWIC. 2012. COSEWIC assessment and status report on the American Eel Anguilla rostrata in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Ottawa. xii + 109 pp. |
| COSEWIC. 2023. Canadian wildlife species at risk. October 2023. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. Gatineau, QC. iv + 130 pp. |
| Cudmore-Vokey, B. and E.J. Crossman. 2000. Checklists of the fish fauna of the Laurentian Great Lakes and their connecting channels. Can. MS Rpt. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 2550: v + 39 p. |
| Desroches, J-F. and I. Picard. 2013. Poissons d’eau douce du Québec et des Maritimes. Éditions Michel Quintin. Waterloo, QC. 471 pp. |
| Ditz, K. and E. Holm. 2023. Ontario Fish Species Codes and Names. Ichthyology and Herpetology, Royal Ontario Museum. May 1994. Modified February 2023. |
| Etnier, D.A. and W.C. Starnes. 1993. The fishes of Tennessee. [2nd printing, 2001]. The University of Tennessee Press. Knoxville, TN. xiv + 689 pp. |
| Goldstein, R.M. and T.P. Simon. 1999. Toward a united definition of guild structure for feeding ecology of North American freshwater fishes. Pages 123-202 in T.P. Simon [Ed]. Assessing the sustainability and biological integrity of water resources using fish communities. CRC Press. Boca Raton, FL. xx + 671 pp. |
| Goodyear, C.S., T.A. Edsall, D.M. Ormsby Dempsey, G.D. Moss, and P.E. Polanski. 1982. Atlas of the spawning and nursery areas of Great Lakes fishes. Volume thirteen: Reproductive characteristics of Great Lakes fishes. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Washington, DC. FWS/OBS-82/52. |
| Halliwell, D.B., R.W. Langdon, R.A. Daniels, J.P. Kurtenbach, and R.A. Jacobson. 1999. Classification of freshwater fishes of the northeastern United States for use in the development of indices of biological integrity. Pages 301-337 in T.P. Simon [Ed]. Assessing the sustainability and biological integrity of water resources using fish communities. CRC Press. Boca Raton, FL. xx + 671 pp. |
| Hasnain, S.S, C.K. Minns, and B.J. Shuter. 2010. Key ecological temperature metrics for Canadian freshwater fishes. Climate change research report: CCRR-17. Applied Research and Development Branch, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. Sault Ste. Marie, ON. 54 pp. |
| Holm, E., N. Mandrak, and M. Burridge. 2021. A field guide to freshwater fishes of Ontario, second edition. Royal Ontario Museum Science Publication. Toronto, ON. 486 pp. |
| Hubbs, C.L. and K.F. Lagler. 1964. Fishes of the Great Lakes region. University of Michigan Press. Ann Arbor, MI. xv + 213 pp. |
| Hubbs, C.L., K.F. Lagler, and G.R. Smith. 2004. Fishes of the Great Lakes region, revised edition. University of Michigan Press. Ann Arbor, MI. xvii + 276 pp. |
| Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS). 2023. On-line database. http://www.itis.gov, retrieved 02 May 2023. |
| Jenkins, R.E. and N.M. Burkhead. 1993. Freshwater fishes of Virginia. American Fisheries Society. Bethesda, MD. xxiii + 1079 pp. |
| Lane, P.A., C.B. Portt, and C.K. Minns. 1996. Adult habitat characteristics of Great Lakes fishes. Can. MS Rpt. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 2358: v + 43 p. |
| Lee, D.S., C.R. Gilbert, C.H. Hocutt, R.E. Jenkins, D.E. McAllister, and J.R. Stauffer, Jr. 1980. Atlas of North American freshwater fishes. North Carolina State Museum of Natural History Publication 1980-12. Raleigh, NC. x + 867 pp. |
| Mandrak, N.E. and E.J. Crossman. 1992. A checklist of Ontario freshwater fishes annotated with distribution maps. Royal Ontario Museum Life Sciences Miscellaneous Publication. Toronto, ON. v + 176 pp. |
| McAllister, D.E. and B.W. Coad. 1974. Fishes of Canada's National Capital Region/Poissons de la r?gion de la capitale du Canada. Fish. Res. Board Can. Misc. Spec. Publ. 24: 203 pp. |
| Meador, R.M. and D.M. Carlisle. 2007. Quantifying tolerance indicator values for common stream fishes of the United States. Ecol. Indicators. 7:329-338. |
| NatureServe. 2023. NatureServe Network Biodiversity Location Data accessed through NatureServe Explorer [web application]. NatureServe, Arlington, Virginia. Available https://explorer.natureserve.org/ (Accessed: February 2, 2023). |
| Nelson, J.S. and M.J. Paetz. 1992. The fishes of Alberta, 2nd edition. The University of Alberta Press and The University of Calgary Press. Edmonton and Calgary, AB. xxvi + 437 pp. |
| O. Reg. 230/08 (2023). Species at Risk in Ontario List. under Endangered Species Act, 2007, S.O. 2007, c. 6.. https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/080230 January 25, 2023. |
| Ontario Federation of Anglers & Hunters (OFAH). 2022. OFAH Ontario record fish registry. https://www.ofah.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/OFAH_RecFish_Nov22.pdf. November 14, 2022. |
| Page, L.M. and B.M. Burr. 2011. Peterson field guide to freshwater fishes of North America north of Mexico, second edition. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Boston, MA. xix + 663 pp. |
| Page, L.M., K.E. Bemis, T.E. Dowling, H.S. Espinosa-Pérez, L.T. Findley, C.R. Gilbert, K.E. Hartel, R.N. Lea, N.E. Mandrak, M.A. Neighbors, J.J. Schmitter-Soto, and H.J. Walker Jr. 2023. Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States, Canada, and Mexico. 8th Edition. American Fisheries Society, Spec. Publ. 37. Bethesda, MD. 439 pp. |
| Phillips, G.L., W.D. Schmid, and J.C. Underhill. 1982. Fishes of the Minnesota region. University of Minnesota Press. Minneapolis, MN. x + 248 pp. |
| Portt, C.B., G. Coker, and C.K. Minns. 1999. Riverine Habitat Characteristics of Fishes of the Great Lakes Watershed. Can. MS Rpt. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 2481: vi + 62 p. |
| Ross, S.T. 2001. The inland fishes of Mississippi. University Press of Mississippi. xx + 624 pp. |
| Scott, W.B. 1967. Freshwater fishes of eastern Canada, second edition. University of Toronto Press. Toronto, ON. xii + 137 pp. |
| Scott, W.B. and E.J. Crossman. 1973. Freshwater fishes of Canada. Bull. Fish. Res. Board Can. 184. [1998 Reprint] Galt House Publications Ltd. Oakville, ON. xx + 966 pp. |
| Scott, W.B. and M.G. Scott. 1988. Atlantic fishes of Canada. Can. Bull. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 219. University of Toronto Press. Toronto, ON. xxx + 731 pp. |
| Scharpf, C. 2005. Annotated checklist of North American freshwater fishes, including subspecies and undescribed forms. Part I: Petromyzontidae through Cyprinidae. American Currents 31(4):1-44. |
| Smith, C.L. 1985. The inland fishes of New York State. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Albany, NY. xi + 522 pp. |
| Smith, P.W. 2002. The fishes of Illinois. University of Illinois Press. Urbana and Chicago, IL. xxix + 314 pp. |
| Stauffer, Jr., J.R., J.M. Boltz and L.R. White. 1995. The fishes of West Virginia. Reprinted from The Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 146:1-389. Pennsylvania State University. 389 pp. |
| Stauffer, Jr., J.R., R.W. Criswell and D.P. Fischer. 2016. The fishes of Pennsylvania. Cichlid Press. El Paso, TX. 556 pp. |
| Trautman, M.B. 1981. The fishes of Ohio with illustrated keys, revised edition. Ohio State University Press. Columbus, OH. xxv + 782 pp. |
| Wallus, R., B.L. Yeager, and T.P. Simon. 1990. Reproductive biology and early life history of fishes in the Ohio River drainage. Volume 1. Acipenseridae through Esocidae. Tennessee Valley Authority. Chattanooga, TN. vii + 273 pp. |
| Warren, M.L., Jr., and B.M. Burr [Eds]. 2014. Freshwater Fishes of North America, Volume 1: Petromyzontidae to Catostomidae. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland. xv + 644 pp. |
| Werner, R.G. 2004. Freshwater fishes of the northeastern United States: a field guide. Syracuse University Press. Syracuse, NY. xiv + 335 pp. |
| Wismer, D.A. and A.E. Christie. 1987. Temperature relationships of Great Lakes fishes: a data compilation. Great Lakes Fish. Comm. Spec. Pub. 87-3. 195 pp. |
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