On the outward journey the Azores may be a convergent point for silver eels leaving different parts of Europe before
reaching the Sargasso Sea.
On the return journey oceanic currents wash the leptocephali past the Azores archipelago in order to reach
European shores. These animals may be drifting for up to three years on currents like the Gulf Stream.
Scientists have recently used the Azores as a base in order to better understand the migration of silver eels from
these islands, the most Western point of Europe that have populations of European eels.