Best Eel

The spotted garden eel (Heteroconger hassi), described in 1959, is a marine fish found across the Indo-Pacific from the Red Sea to the western Pacific. Adults reach roughly 40 cm in length and live in large colonies on sandy seafloor areas at depths typically between 7 and 45 meters. Each individual...

Native to East Asia, the Japanese eel, Anguilla japonica, is a member of the freshwater eel family Anguillidae. Its catadromous life cycle involves growth in rivers, lakes, or coastal waters followed by migration into the western North Pacific to spawn. The spawning area lies near the West Mariana R...

The ribbon eel is a slender marine fish belonging to the Muraenidae family. It’s recognized for its striking color patterns and unique reproductive strategy. These eels exhibit sequential hermaphroditism, transitioning from male to female during their lifespan. They are primarily found in the Indo-P...

Unadon is a traditional Japanese dish featuring steamed rice generously layered with grilled eel glazed in a rich, sweet soy-based sauce known as tare. This donburi, meaning “bowl food,” is particularly associated with Doyo no Ushi no Hi, the summer solstice festival. It’s commonly enjoyed by those...

The dragon moray, *Enchelycore pardalis*, is a vibrant marine eel belonging to the muraenidae family. Native to Indo-Pacific reefs, it’s notable for its striking coloration – orange, black, and white – and distinctive curved jaws used for hunting prey. This species is commonly observed on coral reef...

The European eel, Anguilla anguilla, belongs to the freshwater eel family Anguillidae, but its life cycle connects inland waters with the open Atlantic. It is catadromous, meaning it grows in freshwater or coastal habitats and migrates to the sea to reproduce. The Sargasso Sea is its spawning region...

The fire eel (Mastacembelus erythrotaenia) is a large freshwater fish belonging to the spiny eel family, Mastacembelidae. Native to river environments across Southeast Asia, including Thailand and Vietnam, it is recognized by its elongated body and vivid red and orange lateral markings. Despite its...

An enormous expandable mouth gives the pelican eel, Eurypharynx pelecanoides, its name and unusual silhouette. First described by Léon Vaillant in 1882, this deep-sea fish has a slender body and a long, whip-like tail ending in a luminous organ. It is the sole recognized species in Eurypharyngidae,...

Colonies of spotted garden eels resemble a field of thin stems rising from the seabed. Heteroconger hassi is an Indo-Pacific marine eel in the family Congridae, usually associated with sandy slopes near reefs. Each individual occupies its own burrow rather than sharing an underground home, allowing...

The snowflake moray, Echidna nebulosa, has a pale body crossed by dark markings with yellow accents, creating the mottled pattern behind its common name. This marine eel belongs to Muraenidae and occurs widely in the Indo-Pacific, including shallow coral reefs and rocky coastal habitats. Tide pools...

A large body and broad, tooth-filled jaws make the giant moray a conspicuous inhabitant of Indo-Pacific coral reefs. Gymnothorax javanicus belongs to the moray family Muraenidae and is generally identified as the largest moray by body mass. Large individuals can approach three meters in length and a...

Endemic to New Zealand, the longfin eel, Anguilla dieffenbachii, spends much of its life in freshwater before migrating to the ocean to spawn. It belongs to Anguillidae and follows the catadromous pattern of growing inland and reproducing at sea. Its dorsal fin begins farther forward than its anal f...

The Dragon Roll is a Japanese-American sushi creation in the inside-out roll tradition. It is typically filled with tempura shrimp or eel and topped with avocado arranged to suggest the overlapping scales or body of a dragon, although the exact ingredients can vary by restaurant. The roll is intende...

The gulper eel, classified within the deep-sea fish family Saccopharyngidae, is a marine animal adapted to abyssal ocean environments. Its most defining physical trait is an enormous, expandable mouth that allows it to swallow prey larger than itself, an adaptation for surviving in food-scarce depth...

The zebra moray is a species of marine fish belonging to the family Muraenidae, commonly found inhabiting coral reefs across the Indo-Pacific region. It is easily identified by its striking coloration, which consists of alternating black and white vertical stripes that wrap around its entire elongat...

The green moray (Gymnothorax funebris) is a large marine fish from the family Muraenidae that inhabits the tropical and subtropical waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Capable of reaching lengths of up to 2.5 meters, it is recognized as the largest moray eel species within its Atlantic range. Despite its...

The peacock eel (Macrognathus siamensis) is a freshwater fish belonging to the spiny eel family, Mastacembelidae. Native to the river basins of mainland Southeast Asia, including the Chao Phraya and Mekong, it inhabits slow-moving waters with sandy or muddy substrates where it can burrow. The specie...

The European conger (Conger conger) is a large marine eel species found throughout the eastern Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Black Sea. It is the heaviest known eel species in the world, capable of reaching lengths of over two meters and weights exceeding 200 pounds. This nocturnal...

The peacock moray is a tropical reef-dwelling fish recognized by the striking, eye-like spots decorating its dorsal fin and body for predator deterrence.

The fangtooth moray (Enchelycore anatina) is a marine fish belonging to the family Muraenidae, native to the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. It is identified by its curved, elongated jaws and rows of distinctive, semi-transparent, glass-like teeth that remain visible even when its...

The viper moray (Enchelycore nigricans) is a species of marine eel in the family Muraenidae, primarily found in the tropical waters of the western and eastern Atlantic Ocean. It is characterized by its robust body, dark brown or black coloration, and a distinct curved jaw filled with sharp, needle-l...

The Mediterranean moray (Muraena helena) is a marine eel of the family Muraenidae distributed throughout the Mediterranean Sea and the eastern Atlantic Ocean. Described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758, the species features a dark brown body mottled with yellowish or white spots, providing camouflage agains...

Hina and the Eel is a Polynesian origin legend told in several regional versions, linking the death of an eel with the creation of the first coconut palm. In a common form, Hina receives instructions to bury the eel's head, from which a coconut tree subsequently grows. The three marks on a coconut s...

The American eel (Anguilla rostrata) is a catadromous fish native to Atlantic drainages of North America, the Caribbean, and parts of northern South America. It spawns in the Sargasso Sea; its transparent leaf-shaped larvae cross the Atlantic on ocean currents before becoming glass eels and entering...

The giant mottled eel, Anguilla marmorata, is a catadromous eel in the family Anguillidae. It is the most widely distributed species in the genus Anguilla, occurring from East Africa and the western Indian Ocean across the Indo-Pacific to French Polynesia. Adults spend much of their growth period in...

The zebra spiny eel, Macrognathus zebrinus, is a freshwater fish in the family Mastacembelidae. It is native to Myanmar and is named for the contrasting light and dark bands along its elongated body, a pattern that distinguishes it from more uniformly coloured spiny eels. Like other mastacembelids,...

The tire-track spiny eel (Mastacembelus armatus) is a freshwater ray-finned fish in the family Mastacembelidae, native to South Asia and parts of Southeast Asia. Its elongated body carries a dark, maze-like pattern, while its dorsal fin begins with a row of spines. It is generally demersal, often bu...

The tiretrack eel (Mastacembelus favus) is a tropical freshwater spiny eel in the family Mastacembelidae, recorded from Thailand through the Malay Peninsula. It has an elongated body marked by dark reticulated lines that create the tire-track appearance used in its common name. The species inhabits...

The splendid garden eel (Gorgasia preclara) is a marine eel in the conger family, Congridae, found in the Indo-West Pacific. It lives in sandy seabed habitats and remains partly buried in individual burrows, with groups of eels forming visible colonies that rise and retreat together as they feed. Th...