ABSTRACT
During the migration back to the ocean, the body form alters to adapt to conditions at the spawning area: the eyes enlarge, the body coloration becomes more bronzish (rather than the greenish-yellow seen in the inland habitat), and the gonads mature. As females mature, the body cavity swells due to its greatly enlarged ovaries. Since spawning of eels in the ocean has never been observed, it is presumed that the males and females pair off and spawning occurs several thousand feet below the surface (Tesch, 1977).
