Are There Eels In Illinois? A Chicago Fisherman Just Caught One

I’ve lived in Illinois my entire life, and I can honestly say I never expected to hear the words “American eel caught in the Chicago River.” I never expected to hear about eels in Illinois at all for any reason unless they were a menu offering that I decided to skip.

Maybe it’s because eels hit that weird middle ground between fish and “ewww, what the hell is that thing?”

Snakes? Fine. I can handle snakes. But an eel wriggling around in Illinois waters? That’s nightmare fuel for some of us. Still, a recent catch in downtown Chicago has anglers and wildlife experts pretty excited.

The Chicago Fisherman Initially Thought It Was A Snake

A 25 year old fisherman named Ben Gorashchenko was fishing near the Chicago Riverwalk around Grand Avenue earlier this month when he reeled in something he initially thought might be a snake. Turns out, it was an American eel, a species that’s considered extremely rare in the Chicago River.

Even more surprising? American eels are actually native to Illinois waters, although sightings are incredibly uncommon these days.

They begin life thousands of miles away in the Sargasso Sea, a region of the Atlantic Ocean southeast of Bermuda. From there, the tiny eel larvae drift toward rivers and streams across eastern North America, where they can spend years growing before eventually heading back to the ocean to spawn.

And yes, they are kind of fascinating…if by "fascinating" you mean "creepy and slimy looking."

Here's The Part Where We Learn Something About Eels

Scientists still don’t fully understand how they manage that return trip.

Somehow, after years in freshwater, they navigate thousands of miles back to the exact spawning grounds in the Sargasso Sea, possibly by using ocean currents and even Earth’s magnetic field like some kind of biological GPS that no one has quite figured out yet.

American eels can survive in both freshwater and saltwater and are surprisingly tough little survivors. They can also live for 15 to 20 years in rivers before that final migration ever begins, meaning the one pulled from the Chicago River may have been quietly hanging around for over a decade.

The rare catch is also being viewed as another positive sign for the health of the Chicago River. According to environmental experts, the river once supported only around 10 fish species back in the 1970s. Today, that number has climbed to roughly 80 species as water quality has improved dramatically.

This particular eel was photographed and safely released back into the river, which means somewhere beneath the surface of Chicago, there’s now an eel silently doing eel things.