📸 PhotoPhoto: vranken martin · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
European eel
Anguilla anguilla (European eel · ヨーロッパウナギ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 A maximum female total length of 133 cm is 33 cm longer than a single 1 m ruler (comparison).
- 💡 A maximum weight of 6.6 kg is about one-third of a 20 kg sack of rice (comparison).
- 💡 It is a popular food fish in Europe and Asia (ADW).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
Site-computed relative index from recorded values; not a formal scientific metric.
📖 1. Overview
The European eel is an eel living in rivers and seas along the Atlantic side of Europe that spawns in the Sargasso Sea of the Atlantic Ocean. Its IUCN assessment is Critically Endangered (CR, 2020).
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its appearance changes dramatically by life stage, starting as a small, transparent leaf-like larva before becoming a silvery adult. It lacks pelvic fins, its dorsal, anal, and caudal fins are continuous, and when fully mature for spawning its eyes enlarge and it loses the ability to feed.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
Adults feed mainly on aquatic invertebrates and also eat dead animals. They migrate about 2,000 km from rivers to the Sargasso Sea to spawn, and the larvae drift back to Europe on ocean currents.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
No direct record connecting this species to Korea has been found.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List CR (2020) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/60344/152845178
- • IUCN Red List category CR — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • catalogueoflife.org — DZZN
- • iucnredlist.org — 152845178
- • wikidata.org — Q26387
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:Anguilla anguilla Belgium 1.jpg
- • fishbase.se — Anguilla-anguilla.html
- • animaldiversity.org — Anguilla anguilla
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — Ingo Braasch · CC0 1.0
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.