The American Eel in Certain Fresh Waters of the Maritime Provinces of Canada

Abstract

Estimated standing crops of eels in eight Maritime lakes treated with fish poisons varied from 0 to 70.8 pounds per acre. Smaller standing crops were associated with greater distances of lakes from the sea, and with obstructions to ascending elvers. Few eels were found in small spring-fed streams. The eel is prominent in Maritime lakes, but frequently is not more successful than other fish considered inimical to game species. Seaward migrations of eels may represent major losses of organic matter to lakes.Scales appear on young eels at lengths from 16 to 20 centimetres, probably in their third or fourth year of age. Nine year-classes were found among eels with scales in each of three limnetic populations. Eels with three and four annual rings on the scales were dominant in the runs from lakes.Runs of eels from lakes occurred in April and May, and again, in larger numbers, from late August through November. These movements were at night, and usually coincident with rising water during and immediately following heavy rains. Silvering, an index of maturity, was manifest among only a portion of the largest of these eels. Fall runs of large eels from salt water into streams have been noted. Upstream movements of elvers are most prominent in May and June, although they attempted to bypass a barrier in the outlet of one lake throughout the summer.