Description

Common name: European Eel
Scientific name: Anguilla anguilla (Linnaeus, ***8)
Family: Anguillidae 
Order: Anguilliformes
Class: Actinopterygii
Irish name: Eascann
Irish angling record: 3.**7 kg (***9, L. Droumenisa, Bantry)
Native species: Yes
Hybrids: None
Identifying features
Elongated body; dorsal, anal and tail-fin continuous; dorsal begins well behind pectorals; no pelvic fins; Mouth small, with longer lower jaw; Growing eels are greenish-olive on the back, yellowish on the sides and have a small eye; mature eels, when ready to migrate to the sea to spawn (and subsequently die), become dark on the back and silvery on the sides and the eye becomes much larger4.