The European Eel is also known as the European Freshwater Eel. It can survive in both freshwater and saltwater, although it spends most of its life in freshwater. It can be found in streams, lakes and estuaries throughout England.

European Eels may spend up to twenty years in our freshwaters before returning to the Sargasso Sea where they began their lives. Once they arrive there, they lay their eggs on the sea floor and then die shortly afterwards. As soon as the young eels hatch out of the eggs, they rise to the surface and drift in the open sea for about three years. During this period the eels are almost transparent and are called ‘Glass Eels’.

By the time the eels arrive on our shores, they are a faint yellowy brown colour and about seven centimetres in length. At this stage the eels are known as ‘elvers’. As they start to swim up our rivers the elvers develop yellow underbodies. Their underbodies change to a silver colour and their backs gradually darken to an olive-green or a brown-black colour as the eels get older. European Eels grow very slowly and  very rarely reach over a metre in length.