Anguilla marmorata (Giant Mottled Eel) Discovered in a New Location: Natural Range Expansion or Recent Human Introduction?

Handler, Alex T.; James, Shelley A.

doi:10.1353/psc.2005.0056

Cited by 12 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…The distribution of this remarkable species extends longitudinally from the east coast of Africa to the Marquesas Islands in the central South Pacific, as far north as southern Japan and as far south as southern Africa (Ege, 1939). Recently, this species was also found at the Palmyra Atoll in the central Pacific Ocean (Handler & James, 2006) and even farther to the east in the Galapagos Islands (McCosker et al ., 2003) [Fig. 1(a)], which may indicate that it has an even wider geographic range than previously thought.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Morphological and meristic evaluation of the population structure of Anguilla marmorata across its range

Watanabe

Miller

Aoyama

et al. 2009

Journal of Fish Biology

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The population structure of the giant mottled eel Anguilla marmorata was evaluated using statistical analysis of 21 morphological characters among 13 representative localities across the Indo-Pacific region and as far north as Japan. There were no clear differences in 15 proportional and six vertebral characters using principal component analysis. The total number of vertebrae (N(V)) of A. marmorata at these localities had the widest variation among the morphological and meristic characters examined. A statistical analysis of the N(V) of 1238 specimens from 14 localities that included previously published data found significant differences among Micronesia, French Polynesia and other localities, and between localities in the North Pacific and South Pacific regions. Few differences were detected between specimens from the Indian Ocean and the North Pacific or South Pacific regions. The differences in N(V) among some regions and the population genetic studies of this species indicate that there are at least four populations of A. marmorata (North Pacific, Micronesia, Indian Ocean and South Pacific), which appear to include metapopulation structures in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific. This population structure is consistent with the ocean current patterns in each region and the evolution of migration loops of each spawning population.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 88%

Morphological and meristic evaluation of the population structure of Anguilla marmorata across its range

Watanabe

Miller

Aoyama

et al. 2009

Journal of Fish Biology

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“…This species has the widest geographic distribution from temperate to tropical regions in the 19 species of freshwater eels of the genus Anguilla (Ege 1939) and is found longitudinally from the east coast of Africa to the Marquesas Islands in the southeast Pacific Ocean and as far north as southern Japan (Ege 1939). Recently, this species was found at the Palmyra Atoll in the central Pacific (Handler and James 2006) and even farther to the east in the Galapagos Islands (McCosker et al 2003), which may indicate that it has an even wider geographic range than previously thought. These results suggest that larger larval dispersal in ocean and higher adaptation for various ambient environment after recruitment to growth habitats might be able to have the longdistance spawning migration in A. marmorata.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 86%

Evidence of local short‐distance spawning migration of tropical freshwater eels, and implications for the evolution of freshwater eel migration

Arai

2014

Ecology and Evolution

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Freshwater eels have fascinated biologists for centuries due to the spectacular long-distance migrations between the eels’ freshwater habitats and their spawning areas far out in the ocean and the mysteries of their ecology. The spawning areas of Atlantic eels and Japanese eel were located far offshore in the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, respectively, and their reproduction took place thousands of kilometers away from their growth habitats. Phylogenetic studies have revealed that freshwater eels originated in the Indonesian region. However, remarkably little is known about the life histories of tropical freshwater eels despite the fact that tropical eels are key to understanding the nature of primitive forms of catadromous migration. This study found spawning-condition tropical freshwater eels in Lake Poso, central Sulawesi, Indonesia, with considerably high gonadosomatic index values and with histologically fully developed gonads. This study provides the first evidence that under certain conditions, freshwater eels have conditions that are immediately able to spawn even in river downstream. The results suggest that, in contrast to the migrations made by the Atlantic and Japanese eels, freshwater eels originally migrated only short distances of <100 kilometers to local spawning areas adjacent to their freshwater growth habitats. Ancestral eels most likely underwent a catadromous migration from local short-distance movements in tropical coastal waters to the long-distance migrations characteristic of present-day temperate eels, which has been well established as occurring in subtropical gyres in both hemispheres.

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“…There are two other areas, one on Cooper Islet and one on Paradise Islet, which support surface water. On Cooper Islet, the area has been described as an artificial freshwater pond, formerly a cesspool built during military use and recently found to support a stock of freshwater eels (Handler and James, 2006). No other information regarding the origin or status of these freshwater sites was found.…”

Section: Surface Watermentioning

confidence: 99%

Terrestrial forest management plan for Palmyra Atoll

Hathaway¹,

McEachern²,

Fisher³

2011

Open-File Report

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Anguilla marmorata (Giant Mottled Eel) Discovered in a New Location: Natural Range Expansion or Recent Human Introduction?

Abstract: Freshwater eels in the family Anguillidae spend a majority of their adult life in freshwater but migrate to the ocean to spawn and die. Because freshwater eels are believed to have a long larval period in the open ocean, it is unclear how the present global distribution of species arose.

Cited by 12 publications

References 9 publications

Morphological and meristic evaluation of the population structure of Anguilla marmorata across its range

Morphological and meristic evaluation of the population structure of Anguilla marmorata across its range

Evidence of local short‐distance spawning migration of tropical freshwater eels, and implications for the evolution of freshwater eel migration

Terrestrial forest management plan for Palmyra Atoll

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