Abstract
THE controversy about the identity of the European eel was started by Tucker in 19591. Contrary to the theory of Schmidt2, which assumed that both European and American eels return for spawning to the Sargasso Sea, Tucker argued that it is unlikely that the eels from the European waters manage to return, and that the eels which spawn in the Sargasso Sea are therefore all American. If this were true, the European eel should originate from the same gene pool as the American eel, and have identical gene frequencies, unless differential mortality changes these frequencies.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to the full article PDF.
USD 39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Tucker, D. W., Nature, 183, 495 (1959).
Schmidt, J., Phil. Trans. R. Soc., B, 211, 179 (1922).
Deelder, C. L., Nature, 185, 589 (1960).
Sinha, V. R. P., and Jones, J. W., Proc. Third Br. Coarse Fish Conf., 70 (1967).
Fine, J. M., Drilhon, A., Ridgway, G. J., Amouch, P., and Boffa, G., C.r. hebd. Séanc. Acad. Sci., Paris, 265, 58 (1967).
Sick, K., Bahn, E., Frydenberg, O., Nielsen, J. T., and von Wettstein, D., Nature, 214, 1141 (1967).
Pantelouris, E. M., Arnason, A., and Tesch, F. W., Mar. Biol., 9, 242 (1971).
Koehn, R. K., Mar. Biol., 14, 179 (1972).
Ligny, W. de, Oceanogr. Mar. Biol., 7, 411 (1969).
Drilhon, A., Fine, J. M., Boffa, G. A., and Amouch, P., C.r. hebd. Séanc. Acad. Sci., Paris, 262, 1315 (1966)
Drilhon, A., Fine, J. M., Amouch, P., and Boffa, G. A., C.r. hebd. Séanc. Acad. Sci., Paris, 265, 1096 (1967).
Drilhon, A., and Fine, J. M., Rapp. P.-v. Réun. Cons. perm int. Explor. Mer., 161, 122 (1971).
Pantelouris, E. M., Arnason, A., and Tesch, F. W., Genet. Res., Camb., 16, 277 (1970).
Koehn, R. K., Perez, J. E., and Merritt, R. B., Am. Nat., 105, 51 (1971).
Agashadeh, H., and Ritter, H., Humangenetik, 11, 91 (1971).
Giblett, E. R., Genetic Markers in Human Blood, 527 (Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford, 1969).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
DE LIGNY, W., PANTELOURIS, E. Origin of the European Eel. Nature 246, 518–519 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/246518a0
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/246518a0
This article is cited by
-
Opportunistic migration and habitat use of the giant mottled eel Anguilla marmorata (Teleostei: Elopomorpha)
Scientific Reports (2018)
-
Introgressive hybridization and latitudinal admixture clines in North Atlantic eels
BMC Evolutionary Biology (2014)
-
Population genetic structures of three congeneric species of coastal pelagic fishes (Arripis: Arripidae) with extensive larval, post-settlement and adult movements
Environmental Biology of Fishes (2013)
-
Microsatellite variation between Japanese eel (Anguilla japonica) and European eel (Anguilla anguilla)
Chinese Journal of Oceanology and Limnology (2005)
-
The European eel (Anguilla anguilla, Linnaeus), its Lifecycle, Evolution and Reproduction: A Literature Review
Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries (2005)
