Life Stages
Longfin eels life cycle like other species of Angullidae eels is rather complex consisting of four distinct life stages which remained a mystery for many decades and still is not fully understood.
New Zealand longfins breed only once at the end of their lifecycle, making a journey of thousands of kilometres from New Zealand. They migrate to their spawning grounds in Tonga. Vertical migrations may control maturation in migrating female Anguilla dieffenbachii. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 404, 241-247. doi:10.3354/meps08468) their eggs (of which each female eel produces between 1 and 20 million) are fertilized in an unknown manner but is thought to occur in deep tropical water. The mature eels then subsequently die, with their eggs floating to the surface hatching into very flat leaf-like larvae (leptocephalus larvae) that then drift along large oceanic currents back to New Zealand. This drifting is thought to take up to 15 months. There have been no recorded captures of either the eggs or larvae of Longfin eels. Upon arrival back in New Zealand the larvae undergo a transformation (metamorphosis) into glass eels, which resemble small adult eels but are transparent. These glass eels occupy estuaries during which time they develop colouration and become elvers, resembling small adult Longfin eels. The elvers (young eel) migrate upstream where they develop into adults.
Read more about this topic: New Zealand Longfin Eel
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