Occur in streams, rivers, muddy or silt-bottomed lakes; usually in permanent streams with continuous flow. Hide during the day in undercut banks and in deep pools near logs and boulders. Feed on larvae of Ephemeroptera, Odonata, Plecoptera, Coleoptera, Trichoptera, and Lepidoptera, as well as gastropods, oligochaetes, amphipods, isopods, mysids, and fish from the families Percidae, Cyprinidae, Ictaluridae, Catostomidae and Anguillidae. Migrate in autumn to the Sargasso Sea to spawn. Sexual maturity occurs approximately in less than10 years and up to 40 years in freshwater. Larvae (transparent leptocephali shaped somewhat like a willow leaf) hatch and develop at sea to metamorphose into elvers in nearshore waters and estuaries. Adults are caught with eel pots and trot lines. Elvers and glass eels