CreatureData

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.

  1. China
  2. Germany

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?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classTeleostei
  4. orderAnguilliformes
  5. familyAnguillidae
  6. genusAnguilla
  7. 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

Catalogue of Life

Relatives of the boston eel

Other species in the same genus Anguilla.

CR, Critically Endangered
European eel (Anguilla anguilla)

European eel

Anguilla anguilla

Anguillidae

Marbled eel

Anguilla marmorata

AnguillidaeNo free photo yet

Mottled eel

Anguilla bengalensis

AnguillidaeNo free photo yet

Longfin eel

Anguilla dieffenbachii

AnguillidaeNo free photo yet

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.

Embed a card for this animal on your own site

Copy this code. The card shows the photo with its credit, key facts and a link back to this page.

Preview the card

APA

CreatureData. (2026). Boston eel (Anguilla rostrata). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/boston-eel

MLA

“Boston eel (Anguilla rostrata).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/boston-eel.

BibTeX
@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}
}