Eel fat stores are enough to reach the Sargasso

Vincent J. T. van Ginneken and Guido E. E. J. M. van den Thillart
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Vincent J. T. van Ginneken: Institute of Ecological and Evolutionary Sciences, Integrative Zoology, van der Klaauw Laboratorium
Guido E. E. J. M. van den Thillart: Institute of Ecological and Evolutionary Sciences, Integrative Zoology, van der Klaauw Laboratorium

Nature, 2000, vol. 403, issue 6766, 156-157

Abstract: Abstract It has long been assumed that the European eel (Anguilla anguilla) migrates to the Sargasso Sea — a region of the Atlantic Ocean between the Azores and the West Indies — to spawn1,2,3. During the past decade, however, the number of glass eels has inexplicably dropped4, and it has been suggested that a shortage of fat stores in adults, resulting from diminished food resources for juveniles in inland waters, may prevent the starving silver eels from reaching the spawning grounds4,5,6. But we find that the energetic cost of the 6,000-km migration is actually quite low, with 60% of the fat store remaining available for the developing gonads.

Date: 2000
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DOI: 10.1038/35003110

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