May 03, 1990 - The Annual Antics of the AlewifeC14 The Suffolk Times • May 3, 1990
The Annual Antics of the Alewife
By Paul Stoutenburah
In the early days of our East End the
colonists didn't have the crocuses, daf-
fodils, tulips and green lawns to assure
them that spring had arrived. These
would be the frills of a more settled
time. In their place were the native
signs such as the shadblow. We still
find this delicate white - flowering shrub -
like tree growing throughout our area. It
does especially well along wooded, wa-
ter and road edges where it can get addi-
tional light.
This early indicator of spring's arrival
also had additional significance. It her-
alded the arrival of the anadromous
fishes in our freshwater streams and
rivers. That fancy name merely means
that shad and alewives and other stream -
migrating fish would come to spawn in
the freshwater ponds when the tempera-
ture reached 55 to 60 degrees.
Much has been written about the
salmon and their oftentimes tedious
journey to spawning grounds but few
realize we have the same kind of
activity on a lesser scale right here on
our own East End. At one time both the
North and South forks had their alewife
streams with spawning ponds at the
end. Today, one place you can still see
this annual freshwater migration is at
Big Fresh Pond in Southampton.
On the North Shore they once came
in from the Sound and entered a small
stream that led to a pond on the north
end of Lyndon Hallock's farm at Iron
Pier (now in development). Also, back
in 1976, I found alewives in the stream
that runs under Route 25 and into
Moores Woods in Greenport, eventually
Focus on
Nature
ending up in Silver Lake. Since that
time I haven't found any evidence of
their migration on the North Fork.
Alewives in Riverhead
Of course, the most famous freshwa-
ter river we have here in our general area
is at the head of the North and South
forks. Peconic River in Riverhead still
has its annual run of alewives and if
you are there at the right time you can
see people catching them with their
nets.
Since early times, when the Indians
looked for the blossoming of the shad -
blow that told them the fish would be
running in the streams, alewives have
been used for food and like in the early
stories of colonial times the Indians
also taught the colonists how to use
them as fertilizer on their fields.
Alewives are in the herring family
and act very much like their brethren
except that the herring and bunkers we
see in our bays spawn in the sea while
the alewives spawn in fresh water. I've
watched these silvery fish at the
Elliston Park stream in Southampton
work their way up and over obstacles as
they head up to spawn in the freshwater
pond. All along the way they are easy
prey for man with his net, easy prey for
the gull and raccoon, but they press on
and eventually reach Big Fresh Pond
where the spawning frenzy really takes
place.
Just this week Barbara and I watched
this mad chase as the males pursued the
females into the shallows, where up to
200,000 sticky eggs would be deposited
on the bottom by the ripe female and
ALEWIFE— Springtime brings these herringlike fish from the sea to
freshwater streams along the eastern seaboard.
for Mom
on .Mother's Day
the Birdwatcher s Companion
• 65 different types of
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• Bird seed /suet
• Antique bird prints
• Bird carvings
• Birdhouses
• Binoculars
• Spotting scopes
• Bird field guides
And so
much more
North Road, (county Road 48),
Southold
765 -5372
then fertilized by the male. All along
the west side of the pond, in small
thrashing groups, you could see this
chase going on. In two or three days it
would all be over and the adults would
work their way back down the stream to
the saltwater and eventually out to sea.
Out to Sea
In five or six days, in 60- degree warm
water, the eggs will hatch as mobile
embryos. The body parts and all organs
are transparent except for a big eye and
some special spots of black or brown.
They grow fast and by fall are about
two inches long. Depending on their
size and maturity they then, like their
parents, start their journey back to the
sea where they will stay for four or five
years until they are sexually mature.
Then, as it is generally believed, they
return to the same stream and pond to
complete the cycle. Most adults spawn
four or five times before being caught
by fishermen or other predators, such as
larger fish, ospreys and gulls.
They are plankton feeders, in general
feeding with mouths open and straining
the nutrients from the sea, but they are
also opportunist feeders, which means
eggs, larvae and small fish are also
taken. Their life is hazardous and the
reason for the large number of eggs laid
each year. In nature's balance things
perpetuate themselves pretty well but
when overfishing takes place and ob-
structions (such as dams and alteration
of stream beds by filling or pollution)
run rampant, the anadromous race of
fish suffers. So it is with the alewife.
Today we only find a fraction of what
was an important resource along our en-
tire eastern seaboard from Nova Scotia
to the Carolinas. Once again man is the
culprit. Will he ever learn?
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