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American eels are washing up dead on the shores of northern Lake Champlain, and biologists are investigating what may be killing them.
Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department fisheries biologist Bernie Pientka said people started seeing the eels over the past few weeks, with about 15 of the creatures reported dead on the lakeshore from Swanton south to Milton. It's not yet clear what's causing the die-off, he said.
“We really don't know — we're looking to try to get some samples over the next period of time," he said. “The challenge is that often when we get the reports of them washing up, they're pretty far decomposed, which makes kind of figuring out why pretty challenging.” |
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An invasive nematode has harmed eel populations in the U.S. Southeast, so that may be a cause, Pientka said. He said other fish species in the lake do not seem to be affected, so low oxygen levels or pollution are likely not factors.
Adult eels have a complicated life cycle. They grow up to three feet long, and then migrate to the Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic Ocean in the late summer and fall to spawn. The migrating eels undergo physiological changes to adapt to salt water and the ocean depths.
“They are thought to use some of the deep water currents to get to the spawning areas, so they have to basically adjust to that higher pressure,” Pientka said. |
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