Life of an eel

Young eels grow up in fresh water; but when they become 'adults', they will leave their home in the river or lake and go to the sea. They spawn under 400 ~ 500 metres deep. After spawning, they will die of tiredness and high water pressure. Then ovum incubates to leptocephalus which, will be brought to river mouth again by black tide. Now they are called 'glass eels' because they are transparent. Anguilla japonica and Anguilla rostrata will take one year to return to river mouth, and Anguilla anguilla will take three years to do this. The reasons of why and how these eel-fry return to river mouth is still a mystery, maybe only God knows.

Incubating fields of Anguilla anguilla, Anguilla rostrata and Anguilla japonica

After reaching river mouth, eel-fry will hide in the mud and wait for the river temperature rising until it becomes similar to the temperature of coastal water in order to return to the river. The best catching time comes.

CATCHING TIME AND SIZES

Taiwan	Beginning of every November to next March; about 5,500~7,800/kg
Mainland China	End of every November to next May; about 5,800~8,800/kg
Japan	End of every December to next May; about 6,000~8,500/kg
South Korea	End of every February to May; about 6,800~9,000/kg
North Korea	End of every March to June; about 6,800~9,500/kg
Portugal	Beginning of every November to next March; about 2,800~3,800/kg
Spain	End of every November to next March; about 2,800~4,000/kg
France	End of every January to April; about 2,500~3,500/kg
U.K.	End of every February to May; about 2,600~3,300/kg
U.S.A.	End of every January to May; about 4,500~5,800/kg
Canada	End of every March to June; about 5,500~7,000/kg

After entering fresh water, eel-fry become blacker and blacker because pigment inside their body accumulates. They are so strong at this moment that they even can go against the stream in Niagara Fall. Finally, they arrive at a lake, and become mature eels. They will come to the sea when another spawning time begins.

Eels reproduction
Japanese began to breed eels from 1879 because wild eels cannot meet the market demands. However, along with less and less output and higher and higher prices, many countries try to reproduce eels artificially.

As early as 1934, Boueher of France did some experiments. After him, scholars of Japan, Taiwan and Mainland China continued in doing this. But until now all of these efforts have not succeeded. The artificially incubated Larval eels cannot live for more than 20 days. Following the pace of present development in biological technology, it is assumed that we will succeed in the future.