American Eel Supply to an Estuary and Its Tributaries: Spatial Variation in Barnegat Bay, New Jersey

We evaluated the spatial variation in the supply of Anguilla rostrata (American Eel) glass eels and elvers to a Mid-Atlantic Bight estuary (Barnegat Bay, NJ) by sampling over two years at multiple inlets, thoroughfares to adjacent estuaries and tributaries. Both inlets and all three thoroughfares provided sources of glass eels to Barnegat Bay. However, the level of supply to individual tributaries was markedly different, although size and pigmentation stage was consistent. The difference between tributaries might reflect distance from inlet supply and local human disturbance (a large lagoon-front housing development in one tributary). These pronounced differences imply that glass eel and elver supply to tributaries should be taken into consideration before mitigation or restoration is attempted in response to the decline of this species in North America.