The Glass Eel

This is a Glass Eel.

This is an American Eel.

This is an Electric Eel. This is not a post in which to learn about the Electric Eel.

This is a post to learn about the Glass Eel, which grows up to be an American Eel (rather like a pokemon). Eels are one of those animals we don't really think about but are rather important and kind of mysterious. Eels like many other animals that live in bodies of water, play an important roll in the food chain, not only to other animals, but also to us humans.

Do you like a spicy eel roll? That's possibly an American Eel that you're eating.

Attention has recently been brought to these creatures as scientists are beginning to grow concerned with their numbers. That's why the American Eel Project was started by the Hudson River Estuary Program along with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (the two often work hand in hand).

But let's back it all up.

This is the Sargasso Sea:

This is where American Eels have their humble beginnings. They spend about a year floating around as larvae in the nutrient rich waters (and most likely some of them become a nutrient rich meal for someone else) before floating and swimming up on ocean currents to find their ways into East Coast freshwater rivers and streams. During this process they hit their rebellious teenage phase and become Elvers:

Mind you, their teenage rebellious phase ends around the age of five years old and they spend most of their lives being adults and eating. American Eels can live to be about 35 years old.

But something that makes them very special is that once they are done growing, the eels swim back out to the Sargasso Sea, spawn, and die, leaving the next crop of larvae to swim up to take their places. While this may not seem very special, it took scientists quite a long time to figure out and they have only quite recently figured out the pattern.

Fast forward. I'm in my sophomore year of high school taking biology. My dad (Hudson River Estuary Education Coordinator) contacts my high school biology teacher about a potential extra credit project; monitoring eels at Black Creek in Esopus (NY). The whole idea of the project is to collect data on how many glass eels were coming up into various creeks and streams the are part of the Hudson River watershed.

This project requires:
-a fyke net

-buckets
-a scale (gotta weigh them!)
-Many, many volunteers!

Up and down the Hudson there are schools, boy scout troops, and many others some working with a group and some not, making sure the nets were consistently checked daily. After weeks of collecting data, our results are compiled into a report that is now on DEC's website that help the official scientists understand what eel population levels are doing and where they are (and where they aren't) migrating to.

To sum up a remarkably long post (sorry about that) here are the actual points you should take away from this:
1. Eels are very special.
2. It's important to have programs like this one that get students (especially those in the city) out in the water getting the data and getting their hands dirty.


Links for more info:
http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/49580.html
http://pages.vassar.edu/casperkill/eel-in-the-casperkill/