Abstract
The onset of puberty heralds a significant change in the life of anguillid eels. The hypothalamo-hypophysial-gonadal axis is activated, and a suite of morphological, biochemical, and behavioral changes occurs in preparation for a long return migration to specific, but generally poorly known, oceanic spawning areas. These changes, collectively referred to as “silvering,” are dramatic enough to be recognized not simply as the development of secondary sexual characteristics but as components of a true metamorphosis (Petersen 1896; D’Ancona 1960; LecomteFinger 1990). The nature of these changes and the physiological mechanisms that mediate them form the subject matter of this chapter. The term silvering is used here to refer to the processes that transform an immature, feeding (yellow) eel into a maturing, migratory (silver) eel.
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Sorensen PW, Pankhurst NW (1988) Histological changes in the gonad, skin, intestine and olfactory epithelium of artificially-matured male American eels, Anguilla rostrata (LeSueur). J Fish Biol 32:297–307
Sorensen PW, Winn HE (1984) The induction of maturation and ovulation in American eels, Anguilla rostrata (LeSueur), and the relevance of chemical and visual cues to male spawning behaviour. J Fish Biol 25:261–268
Syrski A (1876) Lecture on the organs of reproduction and the fecundation of fishes and especially of eels. Rep US Comm Fish 3:719–734
Todd PR (1974) Studies on the reproductive biology of New Zealand freshwater eels. PhD thesis, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
Todd PR (1979) The hormone-induced maturation of New Zealand freshwater eels. Rapp P-V Réun Cons Int Explor Mer 174:91–97
Todd PR (1981) Morphometric changes, gonad histology, and fecundity estimates in migrating New Zealand freshwater eels (Anguilla spp.). N Z J Mar Freshw Res 15:155–170
Tucker DW (1959) A new solution to the Atlantic eel problem. Nature (Lond) 183:495–501
van Ginneken VJT, Van den Thillart GEEJM (2000) Eel fat stores are enough to reach the Sargasso. Nature (Lond) 403:156–157
Wong CKC, Chan DKO (2001) Effects of cortisol on chloride cells in the gill epithelium of Japanese eel, Anguilla japonica. J Endocrinol 168:185–192
Young G, Bjornsson BT, Prunet P, Lin RJ, Bern HA (1989) Smoltification and seawater adaptation in coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch): plasma prolactin, growth hormone, thyroid hormone and cortisol. Gen Comp Endocrinol 74:335–345
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Lokmanl, P.M., Rohr, D.H., Davie, P.S., Young, G. (2003). The Physiology of Silvering in Anguillid Eels: Androgens and Control of Metamorphosis from the Yellow to Silver Stage. In: Aida, K., Tsukamoto, K., Yamauchi, K. (eds) Eel Biology. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-65907-5_23
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