The European eel is not just one of the most endangered species in the UK, itâs also one of the most mysterious. The European eel is a catadromous and carnivorous species. European Eel (Anguilla Anguilla) - found in fresh and brackish water in the UK, Ireland, Mediterranean, Northern Africa the Baltic Sea, and Iceland up to mid Norway. Share this: American eel (Anguilla rostrata) â found in brackish and fresh water on the eastern side of the United States, the south- ⦠The counter was described as âinnovativeâ in their press release. The European Eel consultancy is headed up by Dr. William O'Connor, a senior aquatic scientist who has worked with eels for over 20 years. The European Eel Consultancy is a business unit of ECOFACT, Irelandâs leading independent ecological consultancy. The adult European eel (Anguilla anguilla) can reach lengths of 1.5 m, is silver in color, and has a long cylindrical body with small slits for gill openings.The lower jaw is slightly longer than the upper. In May 2017 Inland Fisheries Ireland opened a fish counter on the River Lackagh in Donegal. Our main website is www.ecofact.ie and we have a page regarding eel management at the following link: European Eel Research. Thomas Crofton Crocker collected songs and tales of the horse eel during his travels in Southern Ireland from 1812 to 1816 and is credited with popularizing it. 5: Amphibians, Reptiles & Freshwater Fishâ (King et al., 2011). Satellite tagging of hundreds of European eels, including some leaving from Ireland, showed them meandering and pausing, even doubling back, along the way. River Lampreys trapped below Annacotty weir, Spring 2017. The European eel's migration to the Sargasso Sea to spawn is one of nature's great unsolved mysteries. With funding from the ESB and in co-operation with the National University of Ireland, Galway, exceptional⦠The European Eel Consultancy is a business unit of ECOFACT, Ireland's largest independent ecological consultancy. Think of an endangered species and you might picture a tiger or a panda. Indeed, so innovative that it lacked both a lamprey pass, and one for the critically endangered European eel. In brief. Fish expert and author Helen Scales finds out how weâre using science to divine its secrets and help numbers recover.. The only eel found in fresh water, this species is still of commercial importance to Northern Ireland despite major international decline. Young eels live in freshwater, where they stay for a period of 6-12 years for males and 9-18 years for females. This is a reflection of the significant International decline of this species. Now scientists using satellite tags have tracked 22 eels, revealing what they do in the first 1,300km of an epic 5,000km migration. Description. In 1954, Georgia Carberry and some companions on a fishing trip on Lough Fadda claimed to have seen a huge long-necked monster with two humps that threatened to capsize their boat. The European Eel has been listed as âCritically endangeredâ according to the âRed List No. It has been argued that only nine species of freshwater fish are truly native to Ireland â 5 char species, pollan, eel, brown trout and Atlantic salmon â as Ireland's fresh water was entirely frozen during the last glacial period, only diadromous fish could repopulate Irish ⦠For many years, biologists have puzzled over exactly where they go and what they do after leaving our rivers. The European eel has one pair of pectoral fins, no pelvic fins, and no spines on the anal or dorsal fins. As the eels become sexually mature they migrate to the sea, where they move to the spawning grounds in the Sargasso Sea. 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