American eel turns up in southwestern Minnesota lake

An American eel — far, far away from its natural home in the North Atlantic Ocean — was found in a southwestern Minnesota lake late last month. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources fisheries workers conducting a lake survey on Cottonwood Lake about 16 miles southwest of Granite Falls captured a female, 37.4-inch American eel in their trap net late last month. American eel spawn in the Sargasso Sea in the north Atlantic Ocean. However, the American eel spends the majority of its life in freshwater habitat before returning to the Sargasso Sea to complete the life cycle. Larvae of this fish ride the currents randomly for hundreds or even thousands of miles before finding freshwater habitat. That makes this particular eel’s journey all the more impressive, having likely ridden ocean currents into the Gulf of Mexico and swimming upstream thousands of miles via the Mississippi River and the nearby Minnesota River. click here to read the story 11:06

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