American eel
Anguilla rostrata (Lesueur, 1817)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
The American eel (Anguilla rostrata) is a facultative catadromous eel found on the eastern coast of North America. Freshwater eels are fish belonging to the elopomorph superorder, a group of phylogenetically ancient teleosts. The American eel has a slender, supple, snake-like body that is covered with a mucus layer, which makes the eel appear to be naked and slimy despite the presence of minute scales. A long dorsal fin runs from the middle of the back and is continuous with a similar ventral fin. Pelvic fins are absent, and relatively small pectoral fins can be found near the midline, followed by the head and gill covers. Variations exist in coloration, from olive green, brown shading to greenish-yellow and light gray or white on the belly. Eels from clear water are often lighter than those from dark, tannic acid streams. The eel lives in fresh water and estuaries and only leaves these habitats to enter the Atlantic Ocean to make its spawning migration to the Sargasso Sea. Spawning takes place far offshore, where the eggs hatch.
Wikipedia contributors, American eel; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:56:46.111262+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Anguilla rostrata (Lesueur, 1817)
- Name authority
- (Lesueur, 1817)
- Common name
- American eel
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Anguilliformes
- Family
- Anguillidae
- Genus
- Anguilla
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: yes · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderAnguilliformes
- familyAnguillidae Rafinesque, 1810
- genusAnguilla Schrank, 1798
- speciesAnguilla rostrata (Lesueur, 1817)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Anguilla. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Anguilla celebesensis Kaup, 1856 | AnguillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Anguilla labiata (Peters, 1852) | AnguillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Anguilla obscura Günther, 1872 | AnguillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Anguilla luzonensis Watanabe, Aoyama & Tsukamoto, 2009 | AnguillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Anguilla bicolor McClelland, 1844 | AnguillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Anguilla malgumora Kaup, 1856 | AnguillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Anguilla borneensis Popta, 1924 | AnguillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Japanese eelAnguilla japonica Temminck & Schlegel, 1846 | AnguillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| European eelAnguilla anguilla (Linnaeus, 1758) | AnguillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Anguilla reinhardtii Steindachner, 1867 | AnguillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Anguilla interioris Whitley, 1938 | AnguillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| giant mottled eelAnguilla marmorata Quoy & Gaimard, 1824 | AnguillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=158562 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:66R74. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.