Spawning by the European eel across 2000 km of the Sargasso Sea

Abstract

It has been known for about a century that European eels have a unique life history that includes offshore spawning in the Sargasso Sea about 5000-7000 km away from their juvenile and adult habitats in Europe and northern Africa. Recently hatched eel larvae were historically collected during Danish, German and American surveys in specific areas in the southern Sargasso Sea. During a 31 day period of March and April 2014, Danish and German research ships sampled for European eel larvae along 15 alternating transects of stations across the Sargasso Sea. The collection of recently hatched eel larvae (

Keywords

Anguilla anguilla; spawning area; migration; leptocephali; ocean fronts; Sargasso Sea

Published in

Biology Letters
2019, volume: 15, number: 4, article number: 20180835
Publisher: ROYAL SOC

SLU Authors

• Westerberg, Håkan

  • Department of Aquatic Resources (SLU Aqua), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Fish and Aquacultural Science

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2018.0835

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/100390