Scientists prove oceanographic influences on eel recruitment
Thursday, December 26, 2013 - 12:00
in Earth & Climate
Smoked, fried or boiled - the European eel (Anguilla anguilla) has always been a popular fish in Europe. Even though people have consumed it for millennia, the origin of the eel has long been shrouded in mystery. While the fish spend most of their lives in fresh and coastal waters, spawning and the birth of the larvae take place in the Sargasso Sea in the central Atlantic Ocean, about 4500 km away from the European coastlines. "Because the observation of eels in the Sargasso Sea is scarcely possible, some details of the life cycle are still unknown" says biologist Miguel Baltazar-Soares, from GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel.