Lamprey: The menace of the freshwater

Imagine yourself fishing and you catch a fish. When you pull the fish up you notice it has a red mark left next to its gills. You wonder what has caused this? Well its called a sea lamprey. Sea lampreys are attaching to fish and killing them.  They cause problems that damage fisheries. The only way to rid of these pests is through specific methods.  First, we should find out some facts about sea lamprey.

 

Lamprey are classified as hagfish. Lamprey are eel-like scale less animals that can grow up to 6 to 40 inches long. The skeleton of a lamprey consists of cartilage. The mouth is a round sucking hole surrounded with horn shaped teeth. They have eyes, one or two dorsal fins, a tail fin, a single nostril on top of the head, and seven gill openings on each side of the body. Lamprey live in coastal and fresh water. Not all lampreys spend time in the ocean. Some are landlocked and are stuck in fresh water.

Lamprey give rise to one huge problem, they kill prized fish in fisheries. Lamprey latch on to the fish and it sucks blood from the fish’s body. An adult Lamprey can eat up to 40 pounds of fish a year. When they latch onto a fish they have a chance of killing 6 out of every 7 fish they attach to. The Lamprey don’t only affect the environment and fisheries, but also the taxpayers. With an annual cost of 15 million, biologists still haven’t found a way to stop the Lamprey. The act of getting rid of Lamprey is easier said than done.

So far science has given us 2 methods to prevent Lamprey from spreading even more than they have done already. The first method is Lampricides which is a primary method to control lamprey. Lampricide is placed near nests to prevent the hatching of eggs, killing the eggs in the process. Second method is barriers, which simply just blocks the adult Lamprey from laying eggs in a specific area.

Lamprey is classified as hagfish and can live in both fresh water along with in the ocean. The problem they cause is killing fish in fisheries. The only effective method of preventing lamprey is by putting lampricide in the water. So that the eggs will die and be unable mate and make more. Lamprey is a foe that isn’t to reckoned with. So how will you help to stop these creatures of the deep?

Are their different types of sea lamprey?

How effective are the control methods on lamprey?

How did sea lamprey get in the US?

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