LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — State officials say a Kansas man recently caught an eel near Lawrence that apparently migrated from the Atlantic Ocean.

Tim Smith, of Larned, pulled the 30-inch American Eel from the Kansas River near the Bowersock Dam in September.

Ron Kaufman, spokesman for the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, says the eel spawns in the Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic Ocean. He says the eel would migrated from the ocean up the Mississippi River and across Missouri to the Kansas River before being stopped by the dam.

Kaufman says it’s possible other eels are in the river near the dam.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports Smith caught the eel using a rod and reel with a worm for bait. It isn’t clear what he did with the eel.