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Exclusive | Slippery slope: Cold winter affects NYC migration of this nearly see-through fish

Nypost · · 561 words · By Katherine Donlevy
Climate Impact on Wildlife Environmental Monitoring Educational Outreach
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What to know about Climate Impact on Wildlife

Staten Island’s eel population is in a cold plunge.

Claims checked 6
Techniques found 1
Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage
Left33%
Center34%
Right33%

3 sources compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Staten Island’s eel population is in a cold plunge.

Why it matters

The year’s icier-than-normal winter has put a partial freeze on the city’s American eel migration, with nearly half of the wriggly and nearly-invisible critters making their annual pilgrimage from the ocean into Richmond Creek this season.

Common ground

Just about 4,000 juvenile eels — referred to as “glass eels” at this point because they are almost see-through — have been collected at the estuary as part of the state’s annual eel count, which invites students to wade in the waters, count the fish by hand…

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://nypost.com/2026/05/10/us-news/nycs-cold-winter-affects-eel-migration/

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 1 propaganda technique in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning
Loaded Language 70% confidence
Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.
Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.
Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 6 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

info Single Source 2
verified Verified By Reference 2
verified Verified 1
cancel Disputed 1
info
Claim 1: “the overall count is on track to be a far cry from the nearly 11,000 American eels that were tallied in Richmond Creek last year”
SINGLE SOURCE
One web search result mentions that 'About 11,000 nearly invisible glass eels were counted in Richmond Creek this past spring', but this is a single report and not corroborated by other independent sources in the provided set.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — The heaviest true eel is the European conger. The maximum size of this species has been reported as reaching a length of 3 m (10 ft) and a weight of 110 kg (240 lb).[11] Other eels are longer, but do …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eel
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — Richmond Creek is part of more than 96 Bluebelts across Staten Island the city has built in the past 25 years to support the borough’s drainage infrastructure, provide open green space for residents, …
https://www.silive.com/news/2025/04/staten-island-students-h…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — The American eel is born at sea, floats to the coast on prevailing currents and migrates to clean, healthy waterways along the east coast where they can live for up to 20 years.DEP has nearly 6,000 em…
https://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/html/press_releases/18-047pr.sh…
verified
Claim 2: “the migration season — which ranges from January through May”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
While sources confirm that American eels migrate and that the process happens in the spring, none of the provided evidence specifically defines the migration window as 'January through May'.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — 2017 (MMXVII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar, the 2017th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 17th year of the 3rd millennium and the 21s…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Devil May Cry is an adult animated urban fantasy action television series created and shown-run by Adi Shankar and produced by Studio Mir. Based on the Japanese video game franchise of the same name b…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil_May_Cry_(TV_series)
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — From January 23 to January 27, 2026, a very large and expansive winter storm, unofficially referred to as Winter Storm Fern by The Weather Channel and various news outlets, or Snowmageddon in some are…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_23–27,_2026_North_Amer…
+ 3 more evidence sources
verified
Claim 3: “their populations are considered “depleted” by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission”
VERIFIED
The ASMFC report indicates that the American eel stock is at or near 'historically low levels', which aligns with the classification of being 'depleted'.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) is a commission of U.S. states formed to coordinate and manage fishery resources—including marine (saltwater) fish, shellfish, and anadromous fi…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_States_Marine_Fisheri…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Atlantic horseshoe crab (Limulus polyphemus), also known as the American horseshoe crab, is a species of horseshoe crab, a kind of marine and brackish chelicerate arthropod. It is found in the Gul…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_horseshoe_crab
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Atlantic menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus) is a North American species of fish in the herring family, Alosidae. Atlantic menhaden are found in North Atlantic coastal and estuarine waters from Nova Sc…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_menhaden
+ 3 more evidence sources
verified
Claim 4: “Richmond Creek is one of the last stops the eels make on their 2,000-mile journey from their birthplace in the Sargasso Sea just south of the Bahamas”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and Wikipedia confirm that American eels migrate from the Sargasso Sea (east of the Bahamas) to the coast.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Ajacán – variants include Xacan, Jacan, Iacan, Axaca and Axacam – was a short-lived Spanish settlement, between 1570 and 1571, near Chesapeake Bay, in what would later become Virginia. The settlement …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajacan
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Brick Bradford is a science fiction comic strip created by writer William Ritt, a journalist based in Cleveland, and artist Clarence Gray. It was first distributed on August 21, 1933 by Central Press …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brick_Bradford
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This list of accidents and incidents involving airliners by airline summarizes airline accidents and all kinds of minor incidents by airline company with flight number, location, date, aircraft type, …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_accidents_and_incident…
+ 3 more evidence sources
info
Claim 5: “Since the program started in 2008, the [state Department of Conservation] has counted over a million eels across the state”
SINGLE SOURCE
The evidence confirms the existence of the NYSDEC and their role in conservation, but no provided source mentions the specific figure of 'over a million eels' counted since 2008.
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (informally referred to as NYSDEC, DEC, EnCon or NYSENCON) is a department of New York state government. The department guides and regulates…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_State_Department_…
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — More than 100 million Americans across the United States can trace their ancestry to these immigrants. Ellis Island was the subject of a contentious and long-running border and jurisdictional dispute …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_(state)
travel_explore
web search NEUTRAL — New York State’s Department of Environmental Conservation tells the AP they will look for swamp eels in surveys in the spring, but that they don’t expect the eels to survive the winter.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/man-seen-dumping-b…
cancel
Claim 6: “Just about 4,000 juvenile eels — referred to as “glass eels” at this point because they are almost see-through — have been collected at the estuary as part of the state’s annual eel count”
DISPUTED
Different web sources provide conflicting numbers for the current count. One source mentions 'close to 2,000 glass eels' have been counted in Richmond Creek so far in 2022, while the claim states 'just about 4,000'.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Flinders Highway is a highway that crosses Queensland east to west, from Townsville on the Pacific coast to Cloncurry. The road continues as the Barkly Highway from Cloncurry to the Northern Terri…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flinders_Highway,_Queensland
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Richmond (, RITCH-mənd) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Virginia. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city since 1871. It is the fourth-most populous city in Virginia, with…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond,_Virginia
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Richmond Hill (2021 population: 202,022) is a city in south-central York Region, Ontario, Canada. Part of the Greater Toronto Area, it is the York Region's third most populous municipality and the 27t…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond_Hill,_Ontario
+ 3 more evidence sources
info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.