An official website of the United States government.

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

National Invasive Species Information Center
U.S. Department of Agriculture
  1. Home
  2. Aquatic Invasives
  3. Fish and Other Aquatic Vertebrates
  4. Asian Swamp Eel

Asian Swamp Eel

Scientific Name

Monopterus albus (Zuiew, 1793) (ITIS)

Common Name

Asian swamp eel (ASE), rice eel

Native To

Asia (Prok 2000)

Date of U.S. Introduction

Early 1900s (HI); Mid-1990s (Continental U.S.) (NAS Database; Prok 2000)

Means of Introduction

Imported as a food source and for the aquarium trade (Prok 2000)

Impact

Competes with native species (Prok 2000)

Asian swamp eel

Asian swamp eel, adult

Credit

Photo by Paul Shafland; Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation

Source
Invasive.org.

Find more images

Distribution / Maps / Survey Status

Videos

Selected Resources

The section below contains highly relevant resources for this species, organized by source.

View All Asian Swamp Eel Resources
Partnership
Federal Government
State and Local Government
Academic
Citations