A slippery greenish-yellow ocean creature born in cold, deep waters northeast of the Caribbean has been pulled from the Kansas River, 3,500 miles from its birthplace.
The American eel, which can grow up to five feet long and weigh up to 16 pounds, is native to the U.S. but is rarely seen inland in modern times.
The eel typically lands on U.S. shores during the first year of its life as a small, transparent “glass eel,” before growing to adulthood, wandering and feeding along coastal rivers and ocean habitats. nearby.
This specimen was the first American eel documented in Kansas since 2015.
But even the rare American eel that has managed to dive so deeply into America’s inland river systems will return to the Atlantic to spawn, which American eels do as their final act, with females releasing millions of eggs before dying.
The first American eel seen in Kansas in more than a decade was discovered by an invasive species team sent by the Kansas Department of Parks and Wildlife (pictured). The team is tasked with stopping the spread of Asian silver and bighead carp, among other tasks.
Last year, Jace Tunnell of the University of Texas Marine Institute identified what would be an American eel much closer to its maximum size of five feet for his #Beachcombing series. This specimen, either a king snake eel or an American eel, was found in the Gulf of Mexico.
“There are still many mysteries surrounding the life history of the American eel,” the experts said. “They arrive on our coast with their indeterminate sex and years later they swim out to sea for more than a thousand miles to spawn once and die.”
The rare inland American eel specimen was discovered by an invasive species team sent by the Kansas Department of Parks and Wildlife (KDWP), which has been tasked with stopping the spread of silver carp and Asian bighead, among other tasks.
But the crew took a break to pose with the eel, the first confirmed sighting of its kind in Kansas in nearly a decade.
KDWP’s aquatic invasive species team found the eel while conducting a sampling operation near Kaw Point, a bend in the river where the Kansas and Missouri rivers meet.
“Each American eel found in Kansas began its journey in the Sargasso Sea and will have traveled approximately 3,500 miles,” the wildlife agency said.
The Sargasso Sea, unlike most landlocked seas, is a portion of the Atlantic Ocean enveloped by a large rotating array of four currents.
This tranquil blue region, where American eels travel to spawn and then end their lives, is named for its unique brown algae Sargassum.
This death drive to reproduce is a characteristic these eels share with Pacific salmon and similar species that marine biologists and fish experts describe as “semelparous.”
KDWP’s aquatic invasive species team found the American eel (pictured) while conducting sampling operations near Kaw Point, a bend in the river where the Kansas and Missouri rivers meet.
While the American eel (above) was once a more common sight in coastal rivers throughout the Western Hemisphere, from Greenland to Brazil, and into inland Minnesota and central New Mexico, dam projects have stopped their migratory patterns.
“Spawning occurs in late winter and early spring,” as KDWP posted in its Facebook pagewhich included a map of “the long and strenuous swimming route this eel and all the other American eels in Kansas had to endure to get here.”
While the American eel was once a more common sight in coastal rivers throughout the Western Hemisphere, from Greenland to Brazil, and into inland Minnesota and even central New Mexico, dam projects have halted their migrations.
The species, which can live up to 25 years, is now most commonly seen only in oceans and river systems closer to the coast.
However, as the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries As it explains on its information page, the American eel still occupies “the most diverse habitats among North American fish.”
“They live along the entire eastern coast,” the group continued, “from Canada through the Caribbean and south to French Guiana in South America.”
In 2015, a local recreational angler fishing at the Bowersock Dam on the Kansas River was the last person to catch a confirmed American eel specimen in the state.
As then head of the fisheries section of the KDWP, David NygrenAs he explained at the time, this specimen measured just over two feet long (30 inches): a typical size for adult American eels.
“This eel made a long journey,” Nygren said, “from the Atlantic Ocean, across the Gulf of Mexico, to the Mississippi, making a turn at St. Louis to enter the Missouri River and another turn to go up the Kansas River. “. to Bowersock Dam.