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The Worldwide Distribution of Anguillid Leptocephali

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Eel Biology

Abstract

The catadromous eels of the genus Anguilla are famous for their long migrations from freshwater to their open ocean spawning areas. However, our understanding of the spawning locations of anguillid eels is based completely on data about the distribution of small recently hatched leptocephali. The collection of small leptocephali of the temperate Atlantic eels and the Japanese eel clearly indicates that these species make long spawning migrations (Schmidt 1922; McCleave et al. 1987; Tsukamoto 1992), and preliminary data on the distribution of the leptocephali of the Australian and New Zealand temperate eel, Anguilla australis,indicate that it also appears to have a long spawning migration (Aoyama et al. 1999). However, the limited data on the distribution of the leptocephali of tropical anguillids (Jespersen 1942; Aoyama et al. 2003) indicate that most tropical eels may not make long spawning migrations to spawn offshore.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, 1-15-1 Minamidai, Nakano-ku, Tokyo, 164-8639, Japan

    Michael J. Miller

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  1. Michael J. Miller
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Aquatic Bioscience, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, 113-8657, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Katsumi Aida Ph.D. (Professor) (Professor)

  2. Ocean Research Institute, The University of Tokyo, 1-15-1 Minamidai, 164-8639, Nakano-ku, Tokyo, Japan

    Katsumi Tsukamoto Ph.D. (Professor) (Professor)

  3. Division of Marine Biosciences, Graduate School of Fisheries Sciences, Hokkaido University, 3-1-1 Minatomachi, 041-8611, Hakodate, Japan

    Kohei Yamauchi Ph.D. (Professor) (Professor)

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© 2003 Springer-Verlag Tokyo

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Miller, M.J. (2003). The Worldwide Distribution of Anguillid Leptocephali. In: Aida, K., Tsukamoto, K., Yamauchi, K. (eds) Eel Biology. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-65907-5_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-65907-5_11

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Tokyo

  • Print ISBN: 978-4-431-65909-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-4-431-65907-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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