Question: Which animal has young called elver?
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The eel.
The animal that has young called “elver” is the eel. Eels are fascinating and unique aquatic creatures with a life cycle that continues to intrigue biologists and researchers.
Eels begin their life in the Sargasso Sea, a region of the Atlantic Ocean bounded by four currents forming an ocean gyre. This is where the mature eels lay their eggs. Once hatched, the larvae, known as leptocephali, are carried by ocean currents for potentially thousands of miles. As they approach freshwater estuaries, the larvae transform into the transparent, tiny, thread-like “glass eels.”
As glass eels enter freshwater, they undergo another transformation into elvers, which are still young eels but larger than glass eels. These elvers then make their way upstream. It’s during this journey and upon reaching freshwater habitats like rivers and lakes that elvers start to gain color, turning into the yellow eels, exhibiting a yellow or greenish-brown coloration.
After several years in freshwater, these eels mature and undergo one more transformation into silver eels. Their digestive systems shrink, their pectoral fins enlarge, and they prepare for the long journey back to the Sargasso Sea to spawn and, eventually, end their life cycle. The journey of eels, from elver to maturity, is one of the most remarkable migrations in the animal kingdom, especially considering the vast distances they travel and the multiple habitats they traverse.
