A team of wildlife biologists discovered a fish thousands of miles away from its spawning grounds, leading them to make an unusual discovery.
The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks’ (KDWP) Aquatic Invasive Species Crew was looking for an invasive species at the Kansas River when they made the unexpected discovery of the American eel.
The fish was found by the KDWP team while they were surveying the area around Kaw Point, according to the news.
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officials recently posted on their Wildlife Diversity Facebook page, “Every American Eel that is found in Kansas began its journey in the Sargasso Sea and will have traveled approximately 3,500 miles.”
It’s a species that travels by land.
indicating that it travels from freshwater and estuaries to the Sargasso Sea in late summer and early fall, when it spawns in late winter or early spring, according to news.
According to the station, the abundance of dams in the state of Kansas disrupts the natural streamflow and makes it difficult for American eels to migrate quickly from one river to the next, which is why the fish are rarely spotted in Kansas’ waterways.
The last confirmed observation of the American eel in the state occurred in 2015 when a fisherman discovered one while fishing close to Lawrence. This was the first sighting reported to the KDWP in ten years.
