|
[Descriptions
| Habitat
| Surveys
|Safe to Eat?
| Natural Community
| Fish Stocking
| Fishing
in the Assabet Watershed | Back
to Main]
American eel
Anguila rostrata
Photo credit: Organization for the Assabet
River
Life history and habitat requirements:
The American eel, a native fish of the Assabet watershed,
frequents large and moderately large streams and rivers and
is occasionally found in smaller streams. Adults live in freshwater
rivers until they migrate downstream in the fall to the ocean.
After a two - three month journey to the Sargasso Sea, which
is located hundreds of miles off Bermuda, they spawn and die.
Females lay about 20 million eggs. The transparent larvae
drift in the northward current for about a year back to the
Atlantic coast. Here the larvae grow into “elvers”
and make their way up into freshwater rivers, lakes and ponds.
(Sources: Fishes of Arkansas
and AMC Guide to Freshwater Fishing in New England)
Total Length:
females up to 48 inches; males 12 -14 inches (largest recorded
in MA, 52-inch female).
Pollution Tolerance (US EPA):
Tolerant
Classification:
Macrohabitat generalist
Summary of 1954 & 2001 surveys*:
| Location |
No. of Fish 1957 |
No. of Fish 2001 |
| Assabet River |
|
119 |
| Assabet Brook |
1 |
13 |
| Danforth Brook |
|
1 |
| Elizabeth Brook |
|
9 |
| Fort Meadow Brook |
|
2 |
| Great Brook |
|
1 |
| Guggins Brook |
|
2 |
| Hop Brook |
|
2 |
| Nashoba Brook |
3 |
2 |
| North Brook |
|
2 |
| Total |
4 |
154 |
*Sources:
Schlotterbeck, L.C. and W.A. Tompkins, 1954. "A
Fisheries Investigation of the Merrimack and Ipswich River
Drainages." Bureau of Wildlife Research and Management,
Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Game.
DFW, 2001. Assabet Watershed Fish Survey. MA Department of
Fisheries and Wildlife, Westborough, MA.
back to top
|
