question about american eels sold as bait

[bugmankeith]

I see medium sized yellowish- silver eels sold as live bait, they are held in freshwater. Everything I am reading tells me eels begin and tiny miniatures arriving from the ocean, then become yellowish and get big, then finally turn silver when migrating back to the ocean. These are too small to be adults, is captivity affecting color making them lighter?

If they were to be released would freshwater or an estuary be appropriate? My concern is if they were released in freshwater they wont smell the saltwater and know to go back to migrate, but if released in estuary they will quickly smell the freshwater and migrate towards the bridge built, but can freshwater eels handle brackish water temporarily? Eels were rare here due one way migration (ocean to freshwater) but no way to migrate back to spawn so they died in freshwater, that now was fixed with a bridge built and everyone is trying to get the population back by stocking local ponds and lakes and I wanted to help.

 

[Tongue Flicker]

The color change in migratory fish is usually triggered by hormones. If the colors hasn't changed yet then it would be safe to assume that they are not ready to go back yet.

 

[bugmankeith]

The color change in migratory fish is usually triggered by hormones. If the colors hasn't changed yet then it would be safe to assume that they are not ready to go back yet.

Thanks, so its safe to say it should stay in freshwater. I never realized how complex a life American Eels have they really are fascinating!

 

[Tongue Flicker]

That's the problem with euryhaline creatures, they are very tricky when their life cycle is disrupted due to captive conditions. They either come off early or become latebloomers