The European eel Anguilla anguilla is a facultative catadromous species. Following a long period in freshwater (yellow eel phase) adults migrate (silver eel phase) to reproduce in the Sargasso Sea. Carried by the Gulf Stream and the North Atlantic Drift the transparent leptocephali larvae migrate to the shores of Europe and begin their freshwater life by entering river estuaries. At this stage the larvae become shorter and cylindrical 'glass eels', then, after pigmentation, turn into so-called yellow eels.
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