Japanese eel

Open encyclopedia reference

The Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica; nihon unagi (日本鰻)) is a species of anguillid eel found in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, and Vietnam, as well as the northern Philippines. Like all the eels of the genus Anguilla and the family Anguillidae, it is catadromous, meaning it spawns in the sea but lives most of its adult life in freshwater.

In Japan, it is called unagi, and is an essential part of the food culture, with many restaurants serving grilled eel called kabayaki. However, presumably due to a combination of overfishing and habitat loss or changing water conditions in the ocean interfering with spawning and the transport of their leptocephali this species is endangered. In Japan, research has been conducted on the full life-cycle aquaculture of the Japanese eel as a means of addressing the underlying problem of declining wild populations. In 2010, Japan became the first country to induce spawning using broodstock that had been raised from artificially obtained eggs. In 2026, kabayaki prepared from fully farmed Japanese eel was commercially introduced for the first time.

Wikipedia contributors, Japanese eel; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:57:25.957894+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Anguilla japonica Temminck & Schlegel, 1846

Name authority

Temminck & Schlegel, 1846

Common name

Japanese 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.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. gigaclassActinopterygii
8. superclassActinopteri
9. classTeleostei
10. orderAnguilliformes
11. familyAnguillidae Rafinesque, 1810
12. genusAnguilla Schrank, 1798
13. speciesAnguilla japonica Temminck & Schlegel, 1846

Close classified relatives

These entries share the source’s genus, Anguilla. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.

Browse 17 records assigned to Anguillidae.

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.

1. Temminck, C. J., & Schlegel, H. (1846). Pisces. In: Siebold, P. F. De (Ed.): Fauna Japonica, Sive Descriptio Animalium, Quae in Itinere per Japoniam ... Suscepto Annis 1823-1830 Collegit, Notis, Observationibus et Adumbrationibus Illustravit Ph. Fr. De Siebold. Lugduni Batavorum [Leiden] (A. Arnz et So, Parts 10–14: 173–269. 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:66R7C. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.