Indo-Pacific Eels (Anguilla marmorata) from the Caroline Islands Belong to the Micronesia Population Based on Total Number of Vertebrae Counts
The Indo-Pacific eel, Anguilla marmorata Quoy & Gaimard, has the widest geographic distribution of anguillid eels. At least four populations (North Pacific, Micronesia, Indian Ocean and South Pacific) of this species were estimated to exist by previous morphological and molecular genetic studies. Recent mitochondrial control region haplotype analysis of A. marmorata eels from the eastern Caroline Islands and Guam grouped them in two separated lineages with eels from the South Pacific and western Indian Ocean.