April 23, 1981 - The Alewife: Our Own Species of Migrating FishApril 23, 1981 Tbt Ouffoik Irimto Page 15
The Alewife: Our Own Species of Migrating Fish
It is hard to realize what our countryside
looked like when the first settlers arrived.
Coming from Europe, most of these early
settlers came from the big cities or neigh-
boring towns where the land was open and
not heavily forested. By then most of the
timber had been cut. Upon their arrival
there must have been great despair to see
the huge forests that faced them here. The
task of clearing the land with only their
hand tools and oxen must have been
staggering.
No wonder Long Island with its great
salt marshes and meandering creeks
became such a welcome sight. Salt hay
and thatch grass were one of their most
valuable resources. Here was a ready
pasture and an endless supply of salt hay
for the long winter.
The taller grass along the edge of the
water supplied the thatch for their roofs as
it had in the old country. Add the abundant
fish and shellfish that were there for the
taking and you can see why this area
became so well settled and so sought after.
This week throughout our area we will
see the delicate white flowers of the
shadblow blossoming all along the creek
edges, bay front and roadsides. This
shadblow gets its name from the fact that
in Colonial days it marked the time when
the shad fish entered our freshwater
streams to spawn. All along the eastern
seaboard from Florida north these fish
were common and abundant and there for
the taking in the spring. Each was loaded
with roe which became a delicacy.
Like other members of the herring
family, the shad has no teeth and lives
almost exclusively on small microscopic
plankton it filters out of the water as it
swims along with its mouth open. Sorry to
say we see very few of these fish today.
The reason is that man has interrupted the
migration of these spawning fish as they
head up our streams and rivers. Dams and
other obstructions block their way. Today
we only have a trickle of the fish of
yesteryear which are occasionally caught
in our local fish traps.
Another fish that leaves the salt water to
spawn in freshwater is the alewife. Its
abundance is also a thing of the past. It
must have been quite a sight to see the
streams almost choked with fish as they
made their way up to the freshwater ponds
to spawn. So thick were they it has been
said you could almost walk on them. Here
is a quote from early descriptions of the
alewife in The True Travels of Capt. John
Smith:
"Experience hath taught them at New
Plymouth that in April there is a fish much
like a herring that comes up into the small
brooks to spawn, and when the water is not
knee deep they will presse up through your
hands, yea, thow you beat at them with
cudgels, and in such abundance as is in-
credible. "
On the southside we can still see a trace
of this remarkable migration of fish
traveling upstream to their spawning
grounds in a freshwater pond. All along the
way there are small spillways where they
must jump and fight against the current to
make their way to that destined pond they
were spawned in years before.
We are all familiar with stories of the
famous salmon. We've seen it on TV and
watched them fight their way upstream to
spawn. Few think that we have our own
phenomenon of migrating fish right here
on the East End.
The eggs are tiny round globules that
adhere to almost any surface. During the
months of April and May each male and
female penetrate the far reaches of these
streams to lay and fertilize between 60-
100,000 eggs. Then the spent fish make
their way back to the salt water and
remain seabound for another year.
After the young alewives hatch they stay
in the pond for a month or so and then they
too head down the "parent stream" and
out to the sea. It will be three or four years
before they return to that same stream
and pond for spawning. Pretty remarkable
I'd say.
The only place I've ever found alewives
on the North Shore was in the small stream
that leaves Moores Woods, goes under the
Main Road and into the bay. My records
show three dead alewives found in the
ditch in 1%0. I wonder if they were the last
of a once great migration into Silver Lake
in back of Greenport.
PAULSTOUTENBURGH
P.S. - For ow- readers in the Riverhead
area I hope someone will be able to
enlighten me about alewives moving into
the Peconic River. I know they couldn't get
up the spillway but am wondering if they
are found in the headwaters.
ALEWIFE- -This fish, like the shad, leaves the sea at this time of the
year to spawn in freshwater ponds along the eastern seaboard.
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ALEWIVES HEAD UPSTREAM -- Instinct drives these fish up fresh-
water streams to ponds where they spawn each year at this time.
Photos by Paul Stoutenburgh
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