Cold Spring Brook: Catadromous Eel Capture...

Massachusetts NFC board member Jeff Moore with one of two American eels captured in Cold Spring Brook in Cold Spring Park in Newton, Massachusetts… (Jonathan Goldberg)

After getting two positive eDNA metabarcoding hits for American eel in Cold Spring Brook in Cold Spring Park in Newton, Massachusetts, MA NFC decided to dig a bit deeper.

Folks were admittedly and understandably skeptical due to the badly degraded condition of the stream, and the fact that to get there an eel would have to navigate a sloped cement slab at the Charles River, hundreds of feet of buried stream including beneath the busy Mass Turnpike, 3 small dams, a large shallow impoundment, another sloped slab, a small dam, 3 more small ponds, more buried stream, 3 more ponds, 750’ of daylighted stream, a underground pumphouse, and a final 1,800’ of buried stream…

But the eDNA hits were as strong as those we had gotten for golden shiner which we were able to confirm through visual inspection, seining, and trapping. No other species even came close regarding the strength of the eDNA results.

With support from Adam Kautza, Coldwater Fisheries Project Leader - Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, members of NFC and Friends of Cold Spring Park e-fished Cold Spring Brook in the section where we got eDNA hits. Much to everyone’s amazement, the group shocked 2 eels, one of which was close to 2 feet long.

When it comes to getting past obstructions that would stop most species of fish, American eel are in a class by themselves. They can maneuver over wet grass, rocks, and cement. And they can absorb some oxygen through their skin. Why they work so hard to get so far from the birthplace in the Sargasso Sea is not completely understood.

Videos courtesy of Jonathan Goldberg, Friends of Cold Spring Park…

Special thanks to Adam Kautza, Jeff Moore, and Brian Hutchison…