ABSTRACT
Anguillid species of temperate regions have been under considerable pressure resulting in an overall decline in recruitment levels since the 1980s. Similar population collapses have also been reported in other vertebrate species, and in some cases experimental research has clearly shown that the population crashes could be attributed to the negative impact of pollutants, the most famous case probably being the collapse of birds of prey following the increasing presence of DDTs in the environment. In the case of eels, despite
1 Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO), Duboislaan 14, B-1560 Hoeilaart, Belgium. 2 Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, Ny-Munkegade 114, Bldg. 1540, DK-8000 Aarhus
C, Denmark. E-mail: jmartin@biology.au.dk 3 Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO), Gaverstraat 4, B-9500 Geraardsbergen, Belgium. E-mail: caroline.geeraerts@inbo.be 4 Centre for Sustainable Tropical Fisheries and Aquaculture, Comparative Genomics Centre,
College of Marine and Environmental Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, 4811 QLD, Australia.
