EELS

In 1978 this eel was caught in the MISSISSIPPI RIVER near Dubuque. Photo courtesy: Telegraph Herald

EELS. American eels can grow to 1.22 m (4.0 ft) in length and to 7.5 kg (17 lb) in weight.

The distribution of the American eel includes all accessible freshwater (streams and lakes), estuaries and coastal marine waters across a latitudinal range of 5 to 62 degrees N. Inland, this species extends into the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River and its tributaries as far upstream as Minnesota and Wisconsin. Eels are nocturnal and most of their feeding therefore occurs at night. Having a keen sense of smell, eels most likely depend on scent to find food. The American eel colonizes a wide range of habitats. Their diet is very diverse and includes most of the aquatic animals sharing the same environment.

Non-natural occurrences of this species in the United States were recorded from Lake Mead on the Colorado River and on the Arizona border. It was stocked on a few occasions in Sacramento and San Francisco Bay, California, in the late 1800s. There is no evidence of survival on these occasions. It was also stocked and unintentionally introduced in various states, including Illinois, Indiana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Stocking of this species also occurred in Utah in the late 1800s, but soon disappeared.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the American eel is at very high risk of extinction in the wild. Little information about the natural hunting of eels has been published. It was reported that small eels are prey of largemouth bass and striped bass, and older eels. They also fall prey to other species of eels, bald eagles, gulls, as well as other fish-eating birds. American eels also make up the entirety of the diet of adult rainbow snakes, lending the species one of their common names; eel moccasin.

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Source

"American Eel," Wikipedia. Online: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_eel