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| NAS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species |
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Common Name: Asian swamp eel
Synonyms and Other Names: rice eel, ricefield eel, belut, rice paddy eel, ta-unagi. Other names used for this species include Monopterus alba, Fluta alba, and Monopterus javanenesis.
Taxonomy: available through 
Identification: Distinguishing characteristics and illustrations or photographs were given by Day (1958), Sterba (1973), Rosen and Greenwood (1976), Masuda et al. (1984), Talwar and Jhingran (1992), and Kottelat et al. (1993); characteristics were also provided by Smith (1945) and Merrick and Schmida (1984). This eel was included in keys of Rosen and Greenwood (1976), Talwar and Jhingran (1992), and Kottelat et al. (1993).
Size: 100 cm.
Native Range:
Asia, from northern India and Burma to China, perhaps Asiatic Russia, Japan, and the Indo-Malayan Archipelago (Bailey and Gans 1998); possibly northeastern Australia (Merrick and Schmida 1984).
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Interactive maps: Continental US, Alaska, Hawaii, Caribbean
Nonindigenous Occurrences:
A synbranchid tentatively identified as this species was recently discovered in several waterways in peninsular Florida near Tampa, Homestead and Miami (Nico, unpublished data). It also is known from three spring-fed impoundments (Chattahoochee River drainage) at the Chattahoochee Nature Center in Roswell, Fulton County, and the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area, Gwinnett County Georgia (Starnes et al. 1998; Tilmant 1999). This species was introduced to Oahu, Hawaii, before 1900 (Brock 1960; Maciolek 1984, Devick 1991a, 1991b). It is established on the island of Oahu (Mundy 2005). Swamp eels were also found in Silver Lake, Gibbsboro, New Jersey, in September 2008.
Ecology: In their native range, Asian swamp eels consume a wide variety of invertebrate and vertebrate pray including fish (Yang et al. 1997, Cheng et al. 2003, Hill and Watson 2007) Hill and Watson's (2007) investigation into the diet of an introduced population near Tampa, Florida, revealed prey items such as amphipods, crayfish, fish, fish eggs, insects, oligochaetes, orgainic material. plant material and a tadpole.
Means of Introduction: Its introduction into Florida was probably the result of either an aquarium release or a fish farm escape or release, or a combination of all of the above (Nico, personal communication). The eel was probably introduced into Georgia as an aquarium release. In Georgia, adults were first collected in 1996, although they were likely present since 1990 or before (Starnes et al. 1998). It was presumably brought to Hawaii by Asian immigrants as a food fish (Devick 1991b). Brock (1960) stated that it was established in Hawaii prior to 1900. Devick (1991b) listed it as one of six fish species that were successfully introduced into Hawaii in the 19th century. However, Cobb (1902) and Jordan and Evermann (1902, 1905) made no mention of finding the species in their reports of their turn-of-the-century surveys of Hawaiian fishes.
Status:
Established in Florida (Nico, unpublished data), Georgia (Starnes et al. 1998), and Hawaii (Devick 1991b). Status in New Jersey is unknown.
Impact of Introduction: Largely unknown. Because they are generalized predators, this species is a potential threat to native fishes, frogs, and aquatic invertebrates. In both Georgia and Florida there is concern that the species will spread to adjacent water bodies. The Georgia impoundments where this eel has been taken are connected to the Chattahoochee River.
Remarks: The taxonomy of the genus Monopterus is in need of systematic review. This eel is a voracious piscivore capable of living out of water for a considerable length of time (Day 1958). The Georgia population has shown some cold tolerance, as evidenced by having survived air temperatures below freezing and ice cover over their pond habitat (Starnes et al. 1998). The distribution, biology, and impacts of Florida populations are being investigated by U.S. Geological Survey researchers in conjunction with university biologists. Georgia specimens were identified by Starnes.
Voucher specimens: Florida (UF uncatalogued); Hawaii (BPBM 3448, 3546, 5542, 5970, 28361, 30601, 30604, 33499; UF 98934); Georgia (UF 99872, USNM uncatalogued, NCSM).
Bryant, R. - Georgia Game and Fish, Atlanta, GA. 1994.
Cheng, H., Y. Guo, Q. Yu, and R. Zhou. 2003. The rice fieldeel as a model system forvertebrate sexual development.Cytogenetic and Genome Research 101:274–277.
Day, F. 1958. The fishes of India; being a natural history of the fishes known to inhabit the seas and fresh waters of India, Burma, and Ceylon, volume I. William Dawson and Sons Ltd., London, England.Devick, W. S. 1991a. Disturbances and fluctuations in the Wahiawa Reservoir ecosystem. Project F-14-R-15, Job 4, Study I. Division of Aquatic Resources, Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources. 21 pp.
Devick, W. S. 1991b. Patterns of introductions of aquatic organisms to Hawaiian freshwater habitats. Pages 189-213 in new directions in research, management and conservation of Hawaiian freshwater stream ecosystems. Proceedings of the 1990 symposium on freshwater stream biology and fisheries management, Division of Aquatic Resources, Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Hill, J.E. and
Kottelat, M., A. J. Whitten, S. N. Kartikasari, and S. Wirjoatmodjo. 1993. Freshwater fishes of Western Indonesia and Sulawesi. Periplus Editions, Ltd., Republic of Indonesia. 221 pp. (+ plates).
Maciolek, J. A. 1984. Exotic fishes in Hawaii and other islands of Oceania. Pages 131-161 in W. R. Courtenay, Jr., and J. R. Stauffer, Jr., editors. Distribution, biology, and management of exotic fishes. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD.
Masuda, H., K. Amaoka, C. Araga, T. Uyeno, and T. Yoshino, editors. 1984. The fishes of the Japanese Archipelago. Tokai University Press. Text: i-xxii + 437 pp.; atlas: pls. 1-370.
Merrick, J. R., and G. E. Schmida. 1984. Australian freshwater fishes: biology and management. Griffin Press, Netley, South Australia.
Roberts, T. R. 1989. The freshwater fishes of Western Borneo (Kalimantan Barat, Indonesia). Memoirs of the California Academy of Science 14. California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA. 210 pp.
Smith, H. M. 1945. The fresh-water fishes of Siam, or Thailand. Bulletin of the U.S. National Museum (Smithsonian Institution) 188:1-622.
Starnes, W. - North Carolina State Museum of Natural History, Raleigh, NC.
Sterba, G. 1973. Freshwater fishes of the world. English translation and revision from German. Two volumes. Tropical Fish Hobbyist Publications, Inc., Neptune City, NJ.
Talwar, P. K., and A. G. Jhingran, editors. 1992. Inland fishes of India and adjacent countries. A. A. Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Two volumes.
Tilmant, J.T. 1999. Management of nonindigenous aquatic fish in the U.S. National Park System. National Park Service. 50 pp.
Yang, D., F. Chen, D. Li, and B. Liu. 1997. [Preliminary study on the food composition of mud eel, Monopterus albus.]Acta Hydrobiologica Sinica 21:24–30. (In Chinese with English abstract.)
Other Resources:
USGS Invasive Species Case File
Monopterus albus (Global Invasive Species Database)
Author: Leo Nico and Pam Fuller
Revision Date: 11/17/2008 Citation for this information:
Leo Nico and Pam Fuller. 2009. Monopterus albus. USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database, Gainesville, FL.
<http://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.asp?speciesID=974> Revision Date: 11/17/2008
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