Order Anguilliformes Eels

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Order Anguilliformes (Eels)
American eel
Moray Eel
Conger Eel
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Anguilliformes Characteristics

• Lack pelvic fins
• Dorsal and anal fins are continuous with the
  caudal fin
• Embedded cycloid scales, or totally absent
• Lack gill rakers
• Reduced skeleton

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Anguilliformes Characteristics

• All have leptocephalus larvae

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Order Anguilliformes

• Freshwater Eels
• Moray Eels
• Conger Eels
• Snake Eels

• Family Anguillidae
• Family Muraenidae
• Family Congridae
• Family Ophichthidae

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Freshwater Eels

• Catadromous
• Important predator in many lakes and streams
• Considered a food fish in some areas
• Local species American Eel (Anguilla rostrata)

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Freshwater Eel Reproduction

• Migrate to the Sargasso Sea after 6-12 years in
  freshwater habitats
• Size - 35 - 150cm.
• Spawn at great depths and die
• Leptocephalus larvae migrate to coastal waters,
  and metamorphose into elvers

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Spawning Sites
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Moray Eels

• Efficient predators on reefs and rocky shores
• Preys on inverts and fish
• Teeth are always on display since they have to
  hold their mouth open to breathe
• May exceed 3m rarely gt 1m

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Conger Eels

• Resemble morays
• Have pectoral fins and stout cone shaped teeth
• Most prey on inverts
• Garden eels
• Feed on plankton and often mistaken as seagrass

Garden Eels
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Snake Eels

• Largest of all eel families
• Small in size (lt1m) and brightly colored
• Rarely seen, due to burrowing and nocturnal
  behavior

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Family Clupeidae

• Includes Herrings, Shads, Sardines, and Menhaden
• Live in well-lit surface waters
• School
• Feed on plankton
• DMF Website

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Clupeidae Characteristics

• Silvery scales and compressed body
• Flexible mouth, with fine gill rakers
• Play key roles in many food webs
• Highly abundant, ability to feed on plankton

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Clupeidae Characteristics

• Concentrate in coastal waters
• Many species are not harvested for direct
  consumption
• Important prey items for other commercially
  important species
• Several anadromous species
• Gizzard shad
• American Shad

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Atlantic Menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus)

• Important commercial fishery on the East coast
• Omega protein

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Purse Seine
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American Shad (Alosa sapidissima)

• Anadromous species
• Spawn all over the East coast
• Female spawns over 600,000 eggs
• Valuable for the roe

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Common Clupeids
Atlantic Thread Herring (Opisthonema oglinum)
Round Herring (Etrumeus teres)
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Family Engraulidae

• Small, (lt15cm) filter feeder
• Inhabit inshore waters where plankton densities
  are highest
• Distinguished by inferior mouth
• Like Clupeids, numbers fluctuate due to fishing
  pressure and oceanographic conditions

Striped Anchovy Anchoa hepsetus
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Family Engraulidae

• Peruvian Anchoveta (Engraulis ringens)
• Occur in the upwelling currents on the west coast
  of South America
• Once one of the worlds largest fisheries
• El Nino combined with fishing pressure caused a
  major collapse