This study clarifies the location, size and age at the onset of metamorphosis in Japanese eels Anguilla japonica through oceanic surveys, rearing experiments and analyses of the morphology and otoliths of leptocephali and glass eels. Twenty‐eight metamorphosing leptocephali were collected in the mesoscale eddy region to the east of Taiwan during research expeditions in 2004. Rearing experiments showed that the total length ( L...

Species‐specific restriction fragment length polymorphism in the intron of the androgen receptor gene ( ar5 ) was found in glass to silver‐stage individuals of Anguilla japonica ( n = 51) and A. marmorata ( n = 21). The sequence analysis of 16S rDNA from 328 anguillid leptocephali collected in the North Equatorial Current of the western North Pacific Ocean revealed the specimens to be A. japonica ( n = 194), A. marmorata ( n =...