A substantial part of the European eel population never enters freshwater. To include the marine areas in eel management, knowledge about their marine habitat selection is needed. The present study describes the burial behavior of elvers and their substrate preferences by types and burial cavity sizes. In one experiment, the selective behavior of elvers between four different marine substrata: blue mussels, large gravel, small gravel and sand were investigated. In a second experiment we examined the selective behavior of elvers, when offered shelter in artificial cavities as tubes of five different diameters. The results showed clear elver preference for the mussel substrate, the habitat with the largest cavities, less preferred were large and small sized gravel while the sand substrate was avoided. When offered shelter in tubes of different diameters, the elvers did not use the largest, but preferred shelter in the smaller tubes, which is equivalent to the smallest cavity sizes observed in the mussel and large gravel substrates. The findings point to structured habitats, such as blue mussels and large gravel of intermediate cavity sizes, as important habitats to elvers. The presence of such shelters should be considered when planning future management initiatives and restoration projects.

欧洲鳗鱼的很大一部分从未进入淡水。为了将海域纳入鳗鱼管理，需要有关其海洋栖息地选择的知识。本研究通过类型和掩埋腔大小描述了老人的掩埋行为及其对基质的偏好。在一项实验中，研究了四种贻贝在蓝色贻贝，大砾石，小砾石和沙子之间的选择性行为。在第二个实验中，我们检查了人工精灵在五种不同直径的管子中放置在人造洞中时的选择性行为。结果表明，精灵族对贻贝底物有明显的偏爱，腔体最大的栖息地，较小和较小的砾石是首选，而避免了砂底物。当在不同直径的管子中提供掩体时，精灵们并没有在较小的管子中使用最大的掩体，而是首选了掩体，这相当于在贻贝和大型砾石基质中观察到的最小空腔尺寸。研究结果指出，结构化的栖息地（如蓝贻贝和中等砾石大小的大砾石）是老年人的重要栖息地。在计划未来的管理计划和恢复项目时，应考虑此类避难所的存在。