American Eel Details

• Water Type: anadromous
• Latin Name: Anguilla Rostrata
• Common Names: Eel, Unagi
• Last Modified By: barry on 03/22/17 10:22 AM
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Found nearly everywhere in New England, the American Eel lives in fresh water but spawns in salt water, in the Sargasso Sea of the Atlantic Ocean. After hatching, young eels migrate back to freshwater, even 400 miles of Connecticut River of CT/MA/NH/VT all the way to the Connecticut Lakes of Northern NH the females return to freshwater while the males remain in coastal brackish and salt-water. Eels are very tolerant of adverse water conditions and can live out of water for an extended period of time. During the winter they are generally inactive, buried in the mud. In freshwater, Eels live in lakes and large slow-moving streams including the Merrimack River and Lake Mascuppic of MA. They prefer deep water and mud-bottom. They feed on small fish, insects, crustaceans, shrimp and almost any animal matter(hot dogs) . Feeding takes place mainly at night, when they sometimes even leave the water to search for frogs and small mammals in wet grassy meadows and fields. Eels have a delicious flavor and may be taken easily when descending rivers to spawn in the spring, in tide-water using worms or during the open water season by bottom fishing at night with almost any kind of bait. Full grown females can reach a length of up to 6 feet, but usually range from 2-3.5 feet. The New Hampshire state record is an 8 pound Eel taken from Crystal Lake in Eaton, NH in 1975. A Boston Globe article from 1893 reported an eel caught at a herring run that was 3 feet, eleven inches, 11 inches around, and weighing 9 3/4 lbs.