From yellow to silver: Transforming cranial morphology in European eel (Anguilla anguilla)

Abstract

The European eel (Anguilla anguilla) is a thoroughly studied species, both for its role in aquaculture and its complicated lifecycle (Törlitz, 1922; Tesch, 2003). Anguilla comprises catadromous eel species that spend the majority of their lifecycle in freshwater but migrate back to the oceans for spawning only (Durif et al., 2009a). Hatching from their eggs in the Sargasso Sea, the Gulf Stream currents bring the larvae from their spawning grounds to the coastal waters of Europe and North Africa (van den Thillart et al., 2009). Reaching the