eel

noun

• a snakelike fish with a slender elongated body and poorly developed fins, proverbial for its slipperiness:the man was wanted in a dozen countries but was as slippery as an eel

  • Order Anguilliformes: many families, in particular Anguillidae, which comprises mainly freshwater eels that breed in the sea, including the common Anguilla anguilla of Europe and the American eel (A. rostrata)
• used in names of unrelated fishes that resemble the true eels, e.g., electric eel, moray eel.