Review about the importance of skin mucus from asian swamp eel (Monopterus albus)

Abstract

Asian swamp eel, Monopterus albus belongs to the family synbranchidae under the order synbranchiformes.1 It is originating in the East and Southeast Asian countries.2 It is feed on small fishes, prawns, worms, snails, insect larvae, shrimps, cray fish, frogs and tadpoles. It was also found that swamp eel consumed phytoplankton, benthic algae and organic debris.3 It lives in muddy areas, rice paddies, ponds and slow flowing currents, it has a unique morphological elongated body, similar to snake, covered with mucus without scales or fins, it has the ability to breathe air through the buccal mucosa, and it is hermaphrodite as it can undergo sex reversal naturally,4,5 but the exact mechanism still unknown.6