Anguilla bicolor, Indonesian shortfin eel : fisheries

Anguilla bicolor McClelland, 1844

Indonesian shortfin eel
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Anguilla bicolor   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Anguilla bicolor (Indonesian shortfin eel)
Anguilla bicolor
Picture by Ramani Shirantha

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Anguilliformes (Eels and morays) > Anguillidae (Freshwater eels)
Etymology: Anguilla: Latin, anguilla, .-ae = eel (Ref. 45335).
More on author: McClelland.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; freshwater; brackish; demersal; catadromous (Ref. 138274). Tropical; 22°N - 27°S

Distribution Territories | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Indo-Pacific: widespread in the tropical Indian Ocean and western Pacific. Known in Australia only from streams in the Kimberley regions of northern western Australia. Africa: widespread but relatively uncommon along east and southeast African coast and Madagascar (Ref. 7248, 52193). Mozambique; Lower Zambezi River (Ref. 39494). Most easily confused with Anguilla obscura and the surest way to distinguish them is by the count of vertebrae (Ref. 9828).

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 123 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 6371); common length : 65.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 2871); max. reported age: 20 years (Ref. 48660)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Dorsal soft rays (total): 240 - 245; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 200 - 220; Vertebrae: 105 - 115.
Body shape (shape guide): eel-like; Cross section: circular.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Adults inhabit freshwater streams and pools, preferring marshy habitats (Ref. 41236), in rivers and creeks, commonly over rock bottoms and in deeper pools and move as young to estuaries and seas (Ref. 12693). Seldom found in large rivers (Ref. 6028). Restricted to lowland (coastal) reaches of river systems (Ref. 7248). Adults descend to the sea to spawn (Refs. 52331, 79840). They feed on small fishes, crustaceans and mollusks. Reported to breed east of Madagascar; the south equatorial current probably carries the eel larvae and elvers towards the east coast of Africa where local coastal currents guide the elvers to suitable rivers which they invade and they stay there until sexually mature, when they return to their breeding grounds (Ref. 13337). Caught with various types of nets. Sometimes used in the aquarium trade (Ref. 6028).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Kottelat, M., 2013. The fishes of the inland waters of Southeast Asia: a catalogue and core bibliography of the fishes known to occur in freshwaters, mangroves and estuaries. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 2013 (Suppl. 27):1-663. (Ref. 94476)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-2 (Global))

  Near Threatened (NT) (A2bcde); Date assessed: 11 August 2019

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: minor commercial
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource | Sea Around Us

More information

Trophic ecology
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Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Alien/Invasive Species database | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | National databases | OneZoom | Open Tree of Life | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | TreeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoobank | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 26.5 - 29.1, mean 28.3 °C (based on 1098 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00076 (0.00037 - 0.00155), b=3.17 (3.00 - 3.34), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this Genus-body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.6   ±0.50 se; based on food items.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (tmax=20).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  High to very high vulnerability (74 of 100). 🛈
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Unknown.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 58.7 [34.4, 111.3] mg/100g; Iron = 0.801 [0.472, 1.318] mg/100g; Protein = 18.8 [17.0, 20.8] %; Omega3 = 0.29 [0.14, 0.60] g/100g; Selenium = 150 [74, 289] μg/100g; VitaminA = 13.3 [3.1, 51.7] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.925 [0.650, 1.373] mg/100g (wet weight); based on nutrient studies.