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Greenbeat Magazine looks at the stories in Barton Springs Interactive

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Freshwater eels present no danger to humans. This 3-foot long freshwater eel was filmed in the summer of 1997 at Barton Springs. Its journey began over 2000 miles ago in the Sargassso Sea, where it will return to mate and die. Photo: Save Our Springs Alliance

Dr. Clarke Hubbs is professor emeritus of the University of Texas at Austin's Department of Zoology. His forthcoming book on the fish of Texas contains more stories about denizens of Barton Springs. Photo: Texas Environmental Center

Dr. Hubbs:
"The egg hatches [in Sargasso Sea] and becomes a larva of about 6 millimeters in length. It will swim to the west, toward the North American coast. After about a year they get to the coast, and then they transform to miniature adult eels, called elvers. They then swim up the various rivers. The males elvers will basically stay near Matagordo Bay. The females will swim upstream, until they get to a point where they can't go further, or that they've found a good spot to stop.

"We have good records of eels having migrated up the Rio Grande to New Mexico. And if they can get to New Mexico, there would be no problem of an elver getting to Barton Springs, except for the dams , which would reduce the numbers that migrate.

"When they migrate upstream, the small eels or elvers can swim across dew. Suppose we have a light rain on Longhorn Dam. The elvers can swim up about 15-20 feet, so they could get over the top of the dam. And get into Town Lake. And from Town Lake they could get into Barton Springs with no problem at all."

This story is made possible in part through support from
The National Environmental Education Training Foundation.

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