Abstract
Along with the mysteries of their ecology, freshwater eels have fascinated biologists for centuries. However, information concerning species diversity, geographic distribution, and life histories of the tropical anguillid eels in the Indo-Pacific region are highly limited. Comprehensive research on the species composition, distribution and habitat use among tropical anguillid eels in the Peninsular Malaysia were conducted for four years. A total of 463 specimens were collected in the northwestern peninsular area. The dominant species was A. bicolor bicolor constituting of 88.1% of the total eels, the second one was A. bengalensis bengalensis at 11.7%, while A. marmorata was the least abundant at 0.2%. A. bicolor bicolor was widely distributed from upstream to downstream areas of the rivers. In comparison, A. bengalensis bengalensis preferred to reside from the upstream to midstream areas with no tidal zones, cooler water temperatures and higher elevation areas. The habitat preference might be different between sites due to inter-species interactions and intra-specific plasticity to local environmental conditions. These results suggest that habitat use in the tropical anguillid eels might be more influenced by ambient environmental factors, such as salinity, temperature, elevation, river size and carrying capacity, than ecological competition, such as interspecific competition.
Highlights
Nineteen species/subspecies of freshwater eels have been reported worldwide, 13 of which inhabit tropical regions[1, 2] that are globally distributed in temperate, tropical, and subtropical areas
Very little is known about the species diversity, geographic distribution, and life histories of the many tropical eel species that are found in the Indo-Pacific region
Tropical eel species Anguilla bicolor bicolor, A. marmorata and A. bengalensis bengalensis have been found in Peninsular Malaysia[22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30]
Summary
Nineteen species/subspecies of freshwater eels have been reported worldwide, 13 of which inhabit tropical regions[1, 2] that are globally distributed in temperate, tropical, and subtropical areas. Studying the biological aspects of tropical eels, may provide clues for understanding the life history and nature of primitive forms of freshwater eels, and how the worldwide distribution of the anguillid eels became established. Very little is known about the species diversity, geographic distribution, and life histories of the many tropical eel species that are found in the Indo-Pacific region. Several studies have investigated spawning ecology[13, 14], early life history[4, 5, 15,16,17] and migration[18, 19] of tropical eels in Indonesia. Little effort has been made to examine the species diversity, geographic distribution, habitat ecology and life history of the anguillid eels in Malaysia and Indo-Pacific region
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