Asian swamp eel

The Asian Swamp Eel is a species of eel-like fish known by the scientific name Monopterus albus The Asian Swamp Eel has many other names such as the Rice Eel, Rice Field Eel, and Rice Paddy Eel. The Asian Swamp Eel has similar characteristics to members of the eel order (Anguilliformes) but is not considered a true eel, because they only have one gill opening, are scaleless, and don't have dorsal, anal, caudal, and functioning pectoral fins. Although they are native to regions in Asia, they have been found in the south eastern United States. Their invasive destruction to Chattahoochee River, Georgia brought many ecologists to their attention.

Body Design


The Asian swamp eel is scaleless with a long tapering tail and a blunt snout. Their teeth are like bristles. Their gills are located beneath their head. It can be mistaken for the native American eel and also for the lamprey. It doesn't have pectoral and pelvic fins. It does have dorsal fins, but the caudal is sometimes missing.They use the fins so that they don't roll in the water. The ells head is dark and the body gets lighter. Many have yellow, black and gold spots. They have big mouths and tiny teeth in both of there jaws.

The asian swamp eel is a one pound fish. An adult can typically get to 25 to 40 cm long as an adult. Males are typically larger than females. They have a gill under there head that is v shaped. They have small teeth for eating fish, worms, crustaceans, and other aquatic animals.

Life Cycle


The Asian Swamp Eel may appear to have a simplistic life cycle. But if you look closer, many will find it is another complex organism clearly God's omnipotence. The Asian swamp Eel is oviparous like many other aquatic organisms. It lays its eggs in relatively similar environments that have shallow waters. Their preferred environments are shallow wetlands, stagnant waters, marshes, streams, rivers, ditches, canals, lakes, reservoirs, and ponds. The Asian swamp eel prefers cold temperatures. With due time, the bubble nests float to the top, unattached from any aquatic vegetation.

All newborn Asian swamp eels are female. Later on, females will develop into males. Once female transitions to a male, it may revert to female if male populations are too dense. The gender change found in Asian Swamp Eels takes up to a year. Asian Swamp Eels reproduce throughout the whole year. Cameron Oswalt, an undergraduate at Duke University, found Asian Swamp Eels could burrow underground when lack of water in their habitat prevails. As so, Asian Swamp Eels have the ability with stand and adapt to tough conditions.

Ecology
The Asian swamp eel or Monopterus albus, is native to Eastern and Southern Asia, including Northern India, Burma, China, Japan, Malaysia, and Indonesia. However it is invasive to Hawaii, North Eastern Georgia, North Miami, and Tampa Bay. It has also been found around 1 kilometer from Everglades National Park but hasn't been caught inside the park yet.

The swamp eel lives in muddy ponds, canals, rivers, rice fields, and swamps along with shallow wetlands, streams, lakes, and reservoirs. If its water source dries up the fish will burrow under mud and can survive for long periods of time without water. This fish has also been put into pet stores and sold for aquariums.

Acting as a generalized predator, the Monopterus albus has a wide variety of prey. It eats crayfish, tadpoles, small fish, worms, shrimp, frogs, and turtle eggs. It has also been known to eat detritus (dead and decaying matter).

Except for man, there are no known predators at this time. In Asia they are considered a delicacy and sold live for food at markets.

Invasive Species
Location and Method of Introduction The Asian Swamp Eel is native to Asia from northern Burma and India to as far north as China. It was brought to North America as food and for aquarium pets. Like many other aquatic invasive species, the Asian Swamp Eel is known to have escaped from fish farms and outlet to rivers or lakes. The first non-indigenous discovery occurred in the Chattahoochee River, Southwest Georgia, in 1994 after a drainage. Later in 1997, populations in Tampa and North Miami were recorded.

Environmental Impact The Asian swamp eel is considered dangerous and highly invasive because of many factors. Involving its environment, the swamp eel greatly impacts its home wherever it lives. They are believed to have an unquenchable appetite and eat a diverse group of organisms. This decreases the population of prey. They also complete for available food sources with other predators such as larger fish and wading birds. The swamp eel alters its environment when it burrows in the mud during dry seasons. This accelerates the drying out of bodies of water when the species is great in numbers.

Control Methods The Asian Swamp Eel can adapt to new environments very well. It can survive in hot and cold environments and it can also move across land. The species multiplies quickly and because all offspring are female when they are born there is more of a chance that a large number of eggs can be formed each season. The swamp eel is so invasive that it quickly ruins any habitat it lives in. Scientists have tried using poison in the water but it hasn’t been effective on adult eels. They believe that the best way to control the species is to kill them with some kind of poison when they are juvenile.