Notes on Eel Larvae (Anguilla Anguilla Linnaeus, 1758) from the Central and Eastern North Atlantic and on Glass Eels from the European Continental Shelf

Utrecht, W.L. van; Holleboom, M.A.

doi:10.1163/26660644-05502004

Cited by 16 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Liew (1974) found a pattern of summer and winter growth, suggesting that American eel elvers may have spent 2 years at sea. van Utrecht and Holleboom (1985) compared the otoliths of European eel larvae collected in the mid‐Atlantic and along the continental slope off the Portuguese coast with the otoliths of glass eels collected just before entering fresh water along the Dutch and French coasts. The majority of leptocephali caught in the mid‐Atlantic had three complete growth zones while those from the continental slope had four complete growth signatures.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The majority of leptocephali caught in the mid‐Atlantic had three complete growth zones while those from the continental slope had four complete growth signatures. van Utrecht and Holleboom (1985) assumed that these growth zones were annual increments, implying that the glass eels arriving along the Dutch and French coasts vary between 2 and 6 years of age.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The duration of migration of Atlantic Anguilla larvae

et al. 2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:Oceanic larvae of the European (Anguilla anguilla) and American (A. rostrata) eels have to cross the Atlantic Ocean from the Sargasso Sea to European or North American coasts before entering continental habitats. In some European rivers, eel recruitment is now <1% of levels in the 1980s. A better understanding of the effects of anthropogenic pressures and environmental fluctuations on eel larvae and subsequent recruitment is a prerequisite to build efficient management plans. The present paper provides insight into the critical oceanic phase of the eel life cycle with a focus on the duration of the larval migration whose estimates varies between 7 months and more than 2 years in both species. Does this range correspond to a natural variability in larval duration or does it stem from methodological artefacts? We first review the different methods used to estimate the duration of larval migration and critically describe their possible sources of misinterpretation. We then evaluate the consistency of these methods with the current knowledge about the ecology and physiology of eel larvae and the physical oceanography. While a moderate discrepancy in migration duration was found between methods for the American eel, the discrepancy was large in the European eel. In this species, otolith microstructure studies indicated migration durations between 7 and 9 months, while other methods pointed to durations of about 2 years. We show that estimates in favour of a long migration duration seem more robust to methodological caveats than methods estimating short durations of migration.

show abstract

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The duration of migration of Atlantic Anguilla larvae

et al. 2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Another possibility is a strict, genetically determined period of metamorphosis (Power and McCleave 1983;McCleave 1993;Cheng and Tzeng 1996), which ultimately brings the larvae into contact with the different currents flowing to the American or European continent. Clear differences in metamorphose time and capabilities between the two species have been reported van Utrecht and Holleboom 1985). American eel leptocephali may become developmentally capable of undergoing metamorphosis after 6-8 months and remain viable for 4-6 months .…”

Section: Leptocephali Transportmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…American eel leptocephali may become developmentally capable of undergoing metamorphosis after 6-8 months and remain viable for 4-6 months . In contrast, European leptocephali become capable of metamorphosis only after about 18 months, but remain viable for several years (van Utrecht and Holleboom 1985). New knowledge about timing of metamorphosis is available in Lecomte-Finiger (1994) and Arai et al (2000).…”

Section: Leptocephali Transportmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One theory suggests a passive multi-year and variable oceanic transport (van Utrecht and Holleboom 1985;Gué rault et al 1992). The other theory states that larvae transport is an active process of short duration, including the time of metamorphosis of European eels of only 7-9 months (LecomteFiniger 1994; Arai et al 2000 see also Section ''The location of the spawning areas'').…”

Section: Leptocephali Transportmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation