Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica) is a saltwater, freshwater, brackish species recorded in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore. It is found at depths of 1–400 m. The main season in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore runs all year.
Scientific name: Anguilla japonica · Water: Saltwater, Freshwater, Brackish · Season: All year
Size: up to 150 cm
Weight: up to 1.9 kg
The Japanese eel is an anguillid, plain-coloured and eel-shaped, with 114 to 118 vertebrae. It is strongly catadromous: adults run out to sea to spawn, believed to be near the western Mariana Islands around 15°N and 140°E, and the young then ascend rivers in shoals to grow in fresh water, sometimes crossing land at night to reach new water. By day it buries itself in mud or hides under cover; it is nocturnal, with a very keen sense of smell, and adults feed on crustaceans, insects and fish. Taiwan calls it 白鰻, and also 正鰻. Hong Kong and Taiwan fish it all year, while Singapore records cluster in July and August, mainly from reservoirs and tidal reaches such as MacRitchie, Lower Peirce, Kranji and Seletar. Taiwan is a world centre for glass-eel fishing and eel farming, but wild stocks have fallen sharply through overfishing and habitat loss and the species is now listed as Endangered, so local anglers treat it as catch-and-release and unhook it in the water. Fishing is done at night on the bottom with earthworm or fish flesh, waiting at an estuary or reservoir edge, and a hooked eel will wrap itself around cover and has to be walked clear. It reaches 150 cm total length and 1.9 kg, with most fish around 40 cm.
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