Here, you see the mouth of Patten Stream flowing into Patten Bay in Surry, Maine. It’s 12:23 p.m. on March 6 and the tide is coming in:
Below, you’ll see the same location at 3:07 that day, with the tide still rising.:
Very high tides will cover most of the rocks at the mouth and make it easier for migrating fish to leave the Bay’s salt water and swim upstream to spawn or grow in fresh water. (They are “diadromous” fish that spend part of their lives in salt water and part in fresh.)
Among the fish found migrating up this stream are alewives (herring, to spawn) and young American eels (glass eels, which grow into adults in fresh water before returning to the sea to spawn in several years). (Brooklin, Maine)