Keystone species and the Purity of our Water

The American Eel plays a critical role as a keystone species in the river system of North America. It follows a catadromous life cycle, migrating from freshwater streams to the ocean to spawn. Since they hatch in the Sargasso Sea in the Northern Atlantic Ocean, they eventually travel to freshwater streams feeding on a diet consisting of insects, fish, fish eggs, crabs, worms, clams, and frogs. They essentially provide an essential role to the watershed community of the river and lake system of North America a web of checks and balances of the ecosystem protecting the native species of the lake systems. Furthermore, the Eastern Elliptio mussel (a native water filtering mussel in North America), relies on the American Eel as its main host for reproduction. The larvae of the Eastern Elliptio, called glochidia, attach to the gills of the American Eel and stay there until they develop into juvenile mussels, helping to keep the waters clean through their water-filtering ability (. They act as hosts for the Eastern Elliptio mussel, which are important species for water filtering capacity.