Shirley Cooper was hoping the fishing would be good while on her friend’s boat in the Allegheny River on Monday night.

But she caught something she’d never seen in the river before — and neither have most people.

At 9:50 p.m. near the Cheswick Marina, Cooper, who has fished her whole life, caught an American eel.

“I didn’t realize how special it was,” said Cooper, 56, of Lower Burrell. “We were trying to get photos, but it was fighting very hard.”

Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission spokesman Mike Parker said catching such an eel in the Allegheny River “isn’t unheard of, but it is quite rare.”

“It is very uncommon for someone to catch an American eel within the three rivers,” he said.

Eels are native to Pennsylvania but their numbers are low, and it’s rare for an American eel to make its way to this area, Parker said. The rivers, with their series of locks and dams, don’t favor eel migration.

“While it’s not unprecedented, we definitely do not see them often in these waters,” he said. “… Most likely, the eel took an incredible journey and got caught by an angler.”

According to the state fish commission, American eels begin life in the Atlantic Ocean — the “Sargasso Sea,” near Bermuda, to be exact. Female eels stay in estuaries while males travel rivers and streams. They live in fresh water and return to the ocean to spawn.

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The eel Cooper caught had to make its way across Pennsylvania via rivers and streams to end up in the Allegheny River.

Cooper estimated the eel she caught at 30 inches. Her husband, Don, cut the line to release it.

“We didn’t dare touch it,” she said.

Parker said eels aren’t dangerous to people.

“Their presence is good for the waterways they exist in because they help the mussel population in those waters,” Parker said.

Almost all freshwater mussels must attach themselves to fish or other aquatic creatures while they are larvae in order to survive and grow into young mussels. Eels, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection, are among the best hosts for mussel larvae.

The eel is not harmed, and mussels feed by filtering water through their bodies, making waterways cleaner for other organisms.

Parker said the fish commission receives reports annually of eels statewide, but most who fish the Allegheny will never see one because of its rarity, Parker said.

“It’s definitely a cool memory for that angler,” he said.

Some unusual animals have shown up recently in Alle-Kiski Valley waterways. Officials still are looking for an alligator spotted in the Kiski River between Avonmore and Apollo last weekend.

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