Flower eel is a typical backwater fish. When it becomes sexually mature, it moves downstream from the upper and middle reaches of the river and enters the sea at the mouth of the river to spawn and reproduce in the ocean. The hatchlings are in the shape of transparent willow leaves, commonly known as willow leaf eels, and slowly float toward the mainland, turning into white transparent eel fry like matchsticks before entering the estuary, commonly known as eel threads or glass eels. It then swims upstream and returns to the mainland to develop and grow in freshwater rivers and streams. During the growth and fattening period, it inhabits rivers, reservoirs or mountain streams and valleys, especially in reservoirs. During the day, it usually hides in caves, and only comes out at night to move around and hunt for food. Its temperament is fierce, mainly feeding on fish, shrimp, shellfish, worms and other animals. It can forage outside the water in wet meadows and bamboo forests and bushes after rain.

In the Jiulong River in Fujian, China, it lives as a burrower in rivers and streams from March to July each year. When the northwest wind blows in October and November, the eel starts to move to the estuary and enter the sea to breed. The spawning grounds of Anguilla anguilla are located in deep trenches between the south of the Philippines, east of Sri Lanka and Papua New Guinea. After reproduction, the parent fish die and the eggs hatch in the sea current. The first hatchlings are white, thin and soft leaf-shaped bodies, which are carried to the land coast by the sea current and then metamorphosed into short, round, line-shaped juvenile eels, also known as thread eels, which enter freshwater rivers and lakes to feed and grow. In Taitung, Taiwan Province, the mouth of the Dawu River, before the Mid-Autumn Festival can be seen about 70 millimeters long flower eel seedlings. In the Jiulong River in Fujian Province, eel fry enter the estuary between March and April. Flower eels have a periodic, directional and group migratory movement called migration in their life activities. Migration is an adaptive phenomenon. By virtue of this activity, they can meet the environmental conditions they need in a certain period of life, so that the survival of the individual and the prosperity of the species can be reliably guaranteed.