Friday, March 9, 2012

Alewife

It cracks me up that so much here is named after alewives. The other day, I walked along Alewife Brook (not as nice as the Mystic River paths near Shanna's house)and then there is the Alewife Station, the terminus of the Red Line, also not far from here and Alewife Parkway. Alewives are ocean fish that swim into freshwater to spawn. They are not as streamlined as other shad, which they are so they are named after the stereotypical ale wife who is presumably fat from her husband's successful business.  Around here, they are used as lobster bait .
Some how these fish migrated to the Great Lakes where they had no natural predators and multiplied so quickly that they ended up having natural die offs polluting our beaches with their foul, decaying bodies especially on the southern shores of Lake Michigan. They destroyed the tourist industry for several years. So we in Michigan are not too fond of these fish. It seems strange to name things after this scourge like naming things after a disease. E Coli Station anyone?

Coho salmon were introduced int the Great Lakes to eat these things. There were lake trout that could have preyed on them also but the sea lampreys had wiped them out.

On the local stations, they keep showing the dolphins grounding themselves on Cape Cod shores...sad seeing them flopping in death throes though there are plenty of volunteers trying to save them.

Winter will return tomorrow for one day only. Every day we awake thinking this could be the day we meet Baby Girl but no signs of it today.

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