This work is done in the context of two successive French national research projects "Robot Anguille" (ROBEA 2003-2006) and "RAAMO" (ANR 2007-2010). The aim of these projects is to design, construct and control the 3D motion of a tele-operated or an autonomous eel-like robot. This thesis is dedicated to the control law design. First, decoupled control schemes for the robot's 3D movements are proposed with and without using the pectoral fins. The controller is tested on an existing complete 3D model that is developed in the project. A virtual desktop is developed as a simulator for implementing the model and testing the control laws. In this virtual environnement, 3D movements are controlled by an operator using a joystick. The complete mode...