The Distribution and Biology of the South Pacific Species of Anguil

Abstract

Although the Pacific Ocean and associated islands contain the most diverse assemblage of the genus Anguilla of the 15 species), the biology of several species is little known. The best studied species are those of Australasia (A. australis, A. reinhardtii, and A. dieffenbachii), and hence much of the comparative biology described in this chapter comes from these species. Because many of the features of the biology of the eels of the South Pacific are generally similar to those of the better-known northern hemisphere species (A. anguilla, A. japonica, and A. rostrata), emphasis is given to describing features that are different or unique.