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Decline in non-native freshwater eels in Japan: ecology and future perspectives

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Abstract

The occurrence, distribution, and biological characteristics of non-native freshwater eels were analyzed using 5524 eels collected from 16 sites in Japan between 1997 and 2005. Three hundred seventy-four fishes (6.8%) were identified as non-native European eels, Anguilla anguilla, while the remainder (93.2%) were native Japanese eels, A. japonica. The European eel was found at 7 sites (44%), including 3 rivers, 2 freshwater lakes, one brackish lake, and one sea bay, suggesting a wide rage of habitat use. This variability of habitat use was also evidenced by the otolith microchemistry, which showed that they had lived in not only freshwater but also in seawater habitats. The sites with European eel were localized within the vicinity of southern Japan where a number of these eels were cultivated in the early 1970’s, suggesting that some had escaped from the culture ponds or were released intentionally into nearby natural waters. The large body size (mean total length: 803 mm), pigmented skin, enlarged eyes, and relatively matured gonads (mean gonad somatic index: 1.9) found in non-native European eels indicated that most had metamorphosed into the migratory silver phase, suggesting their ability to initiate spawning migration. However, the proportion of European eels in Mikawa Bay in 1997 was more than 12%, which decreased markedly to less than 2% after 2001, corresponding to the recent decline in import of European glass eels for aquaculture. This suggests that the population of European eels will decrease in Japanese waters in the future.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Kiyoshi Fujita, former Professor of the Tokyo University of Fisheries, and Hiroshi Khono, Professor of the Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, for support and discussion regarding this study. This study is contribution No. 30 from IRAGO Institute Co., Ltd.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IRAGO Institute, 377 Ehima-shinden, Tahara, Aichi, 441-3605, Japan

    Akihiro Okamura, Naomi Mikawa, Yoshiaki Yamada, Tomoko Utoh, Noriyuki Horie, Satoru Tanaka & Katsumi Tsukamoto

  2. Department of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut, Groton, CT, 06 340, USA

    Huan Zhang

  3. Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, 164-8639, Tokyo, Japan

    Aya Kotake & Katsumi Tsukamoto

  4. The Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium, Nagoya, Aichi, 455-0033, Japan

    Hideo P. Oka

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  1. Akihiro Okamura
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  2. Huan Zhang
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  3. Naomi Mikawa
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  4. Aya Kotake
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  5. Yoshiaki Yamada
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Correspondence to Akihiro Okamura.

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Okamura, A., Zhang, H., Mikawa, N. et al. Decline in non-native freshwater eels in Japan: ecology and future perspectives. Environ Biol Fish 81, 347–358 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-007-9205-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-007-9205-x

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