Eel larva. Macrophotograph of a larva of the Japanese eel, Anguilla japonica, in its preleptocephalus stage. The larva lives at a depth of about 75 m

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Eel larva. Macrophotograph of a larva of the Japanese eel, Anguilla japonica, in its preleptocephalus stage. The larva lives at a depth of about 75 m and uses its needle-like teeth to feed on plankton, growing by about mm a day. As the larva grows it undergoes metamorphosis into a leptocephalus stage or glass eel; the two larval stages were once thought to be separate species. The larvae are swept along by ocean currents from the eel spawning grounds west of the Mariana Islands to the coasts of China, Korea and Japan. They spend their adult life in freshwater rivers before migrating back to the ocean to breed and die. Magnification: x10 at 35mm size.

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Size: 3597px × 2480px
Photo credit: © SINCLAIR STAMMERS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: anguilla, animal, bony, eel, fish, glass, japanese, japonica, larva, leptocephalus, nature, pisces, pre, pre-, wildlife, zoology