Boston eel
Anguilla rostrata (Lesueur, 1817)
Status not recordedbony fish
The boston eel (Anguilla rostrata) is a species in the family Anguillidae, order Anguilliformes.
No freely licensed photo yet
Quick facts about the boston eel
- Weight
- Not recorded
- Length
- Not recorded
- Lifespan
- Not recorded
- Main food
- Not recorded
- Habitat
- Not recorded
- Young per litter or clutch
- Not recorded
- Conservation status
- Not recorded
- Countries on record
- Not recorded
Where does the boston eel live?
Not recorded
Where has it been introduced?
The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the boston eel as introduced in 2 countries.
Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).
Is the boston eel endangered?
No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.
How is the boston eel classified?
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- classTeleostei
- orderAnguilliformes
- familyAnguillidae
- genusAnguilla
- SpeciesAnguilla rostrata (Lesueur, 1817)
Synonyms Anguilla aterrima, Anguilla blephura, Anguilla bostoniensis, Anguilla chrisypa, Anguilla cubana, Anguilla laticanda, Anguilla laticauda, Anguilla lutea, Anguilla macrops, Anguilla novaeorleanensis, Anguilla novaeterrae, Anguilla punctatissima, Anguilla tenuirostris, Anguilla texana, Anguilla tyrannus, Anguilla wabashensis, Anguilla xanthomelas, Leptocephalus grassii, Muraena argentea, Muraena bostoniensis, Muraena macrocephala, Muraena rostrata, Muraena serpentina
Other names and names in other languages (34)
- American eelEnglish
- Atlantic eelEnglish
- Common eelEnglish
- Freshwater eelEnglish
- ᏛᏰᏆCherokee
- úhoř americkýCzech
- Amerikansk ferskvandsålDanish
- Amerikanischer AalGerman
- anguilaSpanish
- Ameerika angerjasEstonian
- AmerikanankeriasFinnish
- Anguille américaineFrench
- Z'anguillegcf
- anguilla americanaItalian
- アメリカウナギJapanese
- amerikansk ålNorwegian Bokmål
- AalDutch
- AngieuPapiamento
- Moringa cetkowanaPolish
- Enguia-americanaPortuguese
- Американский угорьRussian
- 美洲鰻鱺Chinese
- anguila americanaSpanish
- AnguilleFrench
- anguille d'AmériqueFrench
- anguille d’AmériqueFrench
- Amerikaanse aalDutch
- Amerikaanse palingDutch
- PalingDutch
- AnguíaPapiamento
- Wegorz amerykanskiPolish
- угорь американскийRussian
- Американский речной угорьRussian
- Amerikanskiy ugor'Russian
Relatives of the boston eel
Other species in the same genus Anguilla.

European eel
Anguilla anguilla
Japanese eel
Anguilla japonica
Marbled eel
Anguilla marmorata
Mottled eel
Anguilla bengalensis
Longfin eel
Anguilla dieffenbachii
Shortfin eel
Anguilla bicolor
CompareBoston eel vs European eelBoston eel vs Japanese eelBoston eel vs Marbled eelBoston eel vs Mottled eel
Common questions
Answered only where our data holds the answer.
Is the boston eel an invasive species?
The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the boston eel as introduced in 2 countries: China and Germany, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.
What kind of animal is the boston eel?
The boston eel (Anguilla rostrata) belongs to the family Anguillidae in the order Anguilliformes.
Sources and how to cite this page
Data as of 2026-11-13. How this page is put together.
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CreatureData. (2026). Boston eel (Anguilla rostrata). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/boston-eel
“Boston eel (Anguilla rostrata).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/boston-eel.
@misc{boston_eel_2026,
title = {Boston eel (Anguilla rostrata)},
author = {{CreatureData}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/boston-eel},
note = {Data as of 2026-11-13}
}