As was discussed earlier, the eel is catadromous, so its habitat varies widely throughout its life. As a youngster, the eels’ habitat consists of the open ocean. As it matures, it moves into the freshwater rivers and lakes. In fresh water, the eels like to reside near the bottom and in dark protected areas like caves. Sadly, as mentioned above, they aren’t that common in the wild anymore. Now the best “habitats” to find them are in fisheries, aquariums, and your local Japanese restaurant.

The range of the Japanese Eel is rather limited by it’s unique life cycle. As every eel is spawned in the same spot and carried by the Kuroshio current, there isn’t much variation. Once the current takes them towards land, they enter the river systems in Japan, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Korea. It is unknown how far inland they travel, as they are relatively rare in the wild.