Connecticut River

The Connecticut River is the largest river in New England, flowing south from the Connecticut Lakes in northern New Hampshire, along the border between New Hampshire and Vermont, through Western Massachusetts and central Connecticut into Long Island Sound at Fenwick, Connecticut. It has a total length of 405 miles (640 km), and a drainage basin extending over 11,250 mi² (29,138 km²). The source of the Connecticut River is the Fourth Connecticut Lake in New Hampshire. Important tributaries include the Miller's, Mill, Deerfield, White, and Swift Rivers. (The Swift River has been largely replaced by the Quabbin Reservoir which provides water to Boston.)

Fish

The Connecticut River is a habitat to several species of anadromous fish, including the American shad, American eel and the Sea lamprey. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is undertaking an effort to repopulate the river with another species of migratory fish, the Atlantic salmon. For more than 200 years, Atlantic salmon have been extinct from the river due to damming. Several fish ladders and fish elevators have been built to allow fish to resume their natural migration upriver each spring.

Related Topics:
Anadromous - American shad - American eel - Sea lamprey - United States Fish and Wildlife Service - Atlantic salmon - Dam - Fish ladder

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