Improvements on the reproductive control of the european eel

Abstract

A combination of several factors have produced an intense decline of the European eel populations until becoming an endangered species, but the European eel is a demanded species with high market values, and wild glass eels are still the base of the eel aquaculture. Nowadays, reproduction in captivity seems the only realistic alternative to reduce the pressure on natural populations and supply glass eels to eel farms. Altogether, trying to get its reproduction in captivity is still an exciting scientific challenge for physiologists, endocrinologists, nutritionists, embryologists, etc. This chapter tries to give an overview of the recent research developed in some of the key areas related with the reproduction of this species, and the main improvements, conclusions and hypothesis emerging from that research, making an especial emphasis in those papers published from 2000.