The Opposite of Anadromous - An Eelogy

The word is Catadromous just in case you need it for your Final Jeopardy and if I was writing rhyme, this is where I’d throw in cantankerous for Eels are a contrary lot, and unlike salmon who spawn in freshwater; eels spawn in the ocean, the Sargasso Sea to be precise, then the larvae catch a ride on the Gulf Steam and the elvers ascend rivers on both sides of the Atlantic, where they grow for twenty years or so before the mature eels head downstream to their faraway mating ground. As a student working on the Ottawa River, we’d always get a few in the night seine hauls. But now they’re on the Endangered Species List, at least in part because when heading downstream, the adults must pass through a series of Hydro dams, where they get chopped up by the turbines and while changing to dear old Archimedes’ screw could reduce the chopping, the mods are too expensive, and other factors like PCB’s, dioxins, and other nasty chemicals might be involved factors as well or maybe shifts on the Gulf Stream with Global Warming have made it harder for the larvae and elvers to find their rivers and probably it's all of the above - nobody really knows and it’s all eels under the dam..