1, eel morphological characteristics
Eel body elongated cylindrical serpentine, body length of about 20-70 centimeters, the longest up to 1 meter. The body is rounded in front and later laterally flattened, and the tail is pointed and thin. Head expanded long and round, cheeks bulging. The mouth is large, terminal, with a short and flattened muzzle; the mouth opens at the muzzle end and is obliquely cleft; the upper jaw is slightly protruding, and the lips are quite developed. The upper and lower jaws and muzzle bones are finely toothed. Eyes very small, hidden under the skin, covered by a thin skin. The gill slits are ventral, and the left and right gill pores are united on the ventral surface in an inverted "V" shape. The gill membrane is attached to the gill isthmus. The gills are often degraded by the oropharyngeal cavity and intestines to breathe. There is no swim bladder to assist respiration, but by the abdomen of a gill hole, the oral cavity lining the epidermis and intestines to control respiration, can breathe directly from the air.
The body is naked, lubricated, scale-free, and rich in mucus; there are no pectoral and ventral fins, and the dorsal and anal fins are degraded with only folds of skin, no soft spines, and all are united with the caudal fin. Body yellowish-brown in life, with complete lateral line, straight along the center of the side of the body. The dorsum of the body is yellowish brown, the abdomen is lighter in color, and the whole body has irregular black speckled lines. The body color of eels often varies according to the environment in which they live. Body eel-shaped, fins without spines, dorsal and anal fins extended, connected to the caudal fin, no ventral fins, or small as the presence of a throat position.
2, habitat
The eel is a tropical and warm temperate zone fish, camp benthic life of fish, adaptability. Living in the bottom of the water body, mainly in rice paddies, lakes, ponds, rivers and ditches and other muddy waters, and even swamps, flooded fields or wetlands can be seen its traces. It likes to live in holes. The length of the eel's burrow is about three times of its body length, and the burrow is curved and crossed. There are usually more than two caves along each burrow. The exit of the burrow is often near the surface of the water, so that it will head out to breathe the air.