A British TV network has reported that a “rare eel from its native Bermuda” has been found in a canal near Birmingham in the English Midlands, after swimming nearly 3,500 miles across the Atlantic.

ITV said the three-foot animal had travelled from the Sargasso Sea, where eels are believed to breed.

Estimated to be more than 20-years-old, the eel was discovered by charity workers cleaning the waterways in the Midlands.

“Canal & River Trust workers hauled the 5lb 10oz eel from the canal while investigating a pollution incident,” said the TV report. “The eel — native to the Sargasso Sea in the middle of the north of the Atlantic Ocean — is thought to have swam nearly 3,500 miles to make its home in West Bromwich.”

According to the report, John Ellis, national fisheries and angling manager at the Canal & River Trust, described the discovery as “pretty amazing”.

“I’m delighted we’ve had a chance to admire this wonderful creature”, he said. “Eels are such a fascinating animal, they start life as a little egg in the Sargasso Sea near Bermuda and make an epic 4,000 mile journey across the Atlantic Ocean to end up in canals and rivers across Europe and North Africa. Once they enter in the canal they will spend their life growing and maturing before returning to the Sargasso Sea to breed.”

The eel has now been returned to a nearby canal.