It migrates thousands of kilometres from Europe's rivers to the Sargasso Sea to spawn and die.
From European Eel
The moment of spawning has never been directly observed in the wild.
From European Eel
In captivity, unable to migrate, it can live several decades longer than it otherwise would.
From European Eel
Like its European relative, it travels thousands of kilometres to the Sargasso Sea to breed once and then die.
From American Eel
The entire species breeds in a single place: the Sargasso Sea. It is panmictic — that is, it functions as a single breeding population in which any individual can mate with any other, whether from Greenland or from Venezuela.
From American Eel
The larvae, called leptocephali, are transparent and shaped like a willow leaf, and drift with the currents for up to a year before reaching the coast.
From American Eel
It lives buried in the sand in colonies that sway like a garden of plants.
From Spotted Garden Eel
It never leaves its burrow: it builds the tube by secreting a mucus that hardens the sand and, at any danger, withdraws inside in an instant.
From Spotted Garden Eel

Ecosystems