Anguilla rostrata
An eel that grows in rivers, lagoons and estuaries of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, and goes to spawn in the Sargasso Sea. It is Endangered worldwide: if you hook one, release it.
Also called: enguia-americana, enguia, american eel, freshwater eel
The American eel has one of the strangest lives of any fish caught in Latin America. It is born in the Sargasso Sea, in the middle of the North Atlantic; transparent, leaf-shaped larvae drift to the coast and turn into young eels that swim up rivers, lagoons and swamps. There they spend one to several decades, hiding by day under banks, among logs and in deep pools, and hunting insect larvae, snails, small crustaceans and fish. In autumn the adults go back down the rivers and return to the sea to spawn. It reaches 152 cm, 7.3 kg and 43 years of age, according to FishBase. The IUCN has rated it Endangered since the 2020 assessment.
Long, rounded body like a snake's, with no pelvic fins and with the dorsal, caudal and anal fins joined in one continuous fin. Smooth, very slippery skin with tiny embedded scales. Long head, small eyes, thick lips, lower jaw longer than the upper, and well-developed pectoral fins, with the gill opening in front of them. Adults are brown to dark blue on the back and pale below; juveniles have some yellow on the edge of the dorsal and anal fins. Morays have no pectoral fins, and neither does the mussum (Synbranchus).
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Each card shows the day's index (0 to 100) and, below it, a strip with the index for each hour, from 0h to 23h. from poor to excellent.
Atlantic coast of the Americas, from Greenland to Panama, and much of the Antilles down to Trinidad. In Latin America it occurs in Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean islands and, in northern South America, Colombia and Venezuela. FishBase's country list does not include Brazil.
Habitat: Rivers, streams and lagoons with mud or silt bottoms, preferably with steady current, dug-out banks, logs and deep pools where it hides by day. It passes through estuaries and mangroves and goes out to sea, down to about 464 m, to spawn.
Yellow eels (the growth stage) are active all year in warm water. In autumn the adults go down to the sea on dark nights with high water, and in the Antilles young eels (elvers) enter rivers in winter; in the Dominican Republic the 2022-2023 elver season ran from 15/10 to 31/03.
Nighttime. Hides by day and goes out at night to hunt; activity is highest in the first hours after sunset.
In cold water it stays still and barely feeds; the range reported by FishBase is 4 to 25 °C.
Small effect.
It prefers dark nights: on full-moon nights it goes out less, and the adults' downstream migration to the sea happens on moonless nights.
Rising, muddy water after rain flushes the eel out of its hiding places and triggers the adults' migration.
Low, clear river: only at night. With the water rising, it also becomes active at dusk.
It senses vibration on the bank; step lightly and avoid shining a flashlight in the fish's face.
Little effect.
In estuaries, the ebb tide carries the adults out to sea during migration.
By day it stays on the bottom, hidden; at night it moves up to the shallows and the banks.
natural baits
accessories
Endangered species: if it swallows the hook, cut the leader close to the mouth instead of pulling it out; it survives better.
Summary of the regulations we found, with the source for each. Rules change; before keeping or transporting fish, check with the state environmental agency.
Conservation: Endangered in the IUCN global assessment (criterion A2bd, assessed 08/11/2020). As it is outside the Brazilian fauna, it is not on the national list (Portaria GM/MMA nº 1.667/2026). In November 2025 CITES CoP20 rejected the proposal to list eels of the genus Anguilla in Appendix II.
In the Dominican Republic, fishing for eels (Anguilla rostrata) is permanently banned at all stages of development, including elvers, within the units of the National System of Protected Areas and their buffer zones.
Source: Decreto nº 418-21, of Jul 2, 2021, art. 3º (Presidency of the Dominican Republic)
CODOPESCA Resolution No. 02-22 requires a special permit to exploit, sell and export the American eel, limits capture to fishers registered for the species, and prohibits carrying more than 100 g outside the card zone. For 2022-2023 it opened the elver season from 15/10/2022 to 31/03/2023, closed fishing and trade of all stages from 01/04 to 14/10/2023, and set a maximum quota of 1,500 kg. These dates apply to that period; we did not check a more recent resolution. Check with CODOPESCA before fishing.
Always release: the species is Endangered and long-lived, and large eels are very old. Hold it with a wet cloth or glove, horizontally, and release it in deep water with current. If the hook is deep, cut the line close to the mouth.
Fatty, firm flesh, traditionally smoked or grilled in many cultures. In the Dominican Republic, the trade in elvers (angulas) is regulated by special permit. Because it is Endangered, the recommendation is to release it.
Length-weight relationship W = a·Lb (a = 0.00087, b = 3.19; FishBase (relação peso-comprimento bayesiana, estimativa da própria espécie)). It's an average: a fat or lean fish can vary by 10% to 20%.
estimated weight
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The season weights (months), the time of day and the sensitivities (cold, pressure, moon, wind, rain, tide, strong light, murky water and noise) are the app's editorial estimates, based on the literature below and on the field experience of anglers and guides. They are not official data nor a measurement made for this species, and they may vary by region and year. Closed seasons and legal rules appear in the rules section, with the norm and a link.
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