Lamprey
A lamprey (sometimes also called lamprey eel) is a jawless fish with a toothed, funnel-like sucking mouth. While lampreys are well known for those species which bore into the flesh of other fish to suck their blood, these species make up the minority. In zoology, lampreys are often not considered to be true fish because of their vastly different morphology and physiology.
Lampreys live mostly in coastal and fresh waters, although at least one species, Geotria australis, probably travels significant distances in the open ocean, as is evidenced by the lack of reproductive isolation between Australian and New Zealand populations, and the capture of a specimen in the Southern Ocean between Australia and Antarctica. They are found in most temperate regions except Africa. Their larvae have a low tolerance for high water temperatures, which is probably why they are not found in the tropics. Outwardly resembling eels, in that they have no scales, an adult lamprey can range anywhere from 13 to 100 centimetres (5 to 40 inches) long. Lampreys have no paired fins, large eyes, one nostril on the top of the head, and seven gills on each side. The unique morphological characteristics of lampreys, such as their cartilaginous skeleton, mean that they are the sister taxon (see cladistics) of all living jawed vertebrates (gnathostomes) and are not classified within the Vertebrata itself. This is disputed by some, who place lampreys within Vertebrata. The hagfish, which superficially resembles the lamprey, is the sister taxon of the lampreys and gnathostomes (a clade termed the Craniata).
Lampreys begin life as burrowing freshwater larvae (ammocoetes). At this stage, they are toothless, have rudimentary eyes, and feed on microorganisms. This larval stage can last five to seven years and hence was originally thought to be an independent organism. After these five to seven years, they transform into adults in a metamorphosis which is at least as radical as that seen in amphibians, and which involves a radical rearrangement of internal organs, development of eyes and transformation from a mud-dwelling filter feeder into an efficient swimming predator, which typically moves into the sea to begin a predatory/parasitic life, attaching their mouth to a fish, secreting an anticoagulant to the host, and feeding on the blood and tissues of the host. In most species this phase lasts about 18 months.
Not all lampreys can be found in the sea. Some lampreys are landlocked and remain in fresh water, and some of these stop feeding altogether as soon as they have left the larval stage. The landlocked species are usually rather small.
To reproduce, lampreys return to fresh water (if they left it), build a nest, then spawn, that is, lay their eggs or excrete their semen, and then invariably die. In Geotria australis, the time between ceasing to feed at sea and spawning can be up to 18 months.
Studies reported in Nature suggest that lampreys have a unique type of immune system with parts that are unrelated to the antibodies found in mammals. They also have a very high tolerance to iron overload, and have biochemical defenses to detoxify this metal.


Lamprey
Lamprey news
Updated every 30 minutes
- Eric Sharp: Good, bad news on lampreys
- While lamprey numbers have been reduced by 90% in the other Great Lakes, they remain high in Lake Erie. Lampreys clamp onto fish, using a tongue like a file to bore into fish and live off their blood and body fluids. / SUSAN TUSA/Detroit Free Press By ...
- What could have been
- By Mike McKee That's what the US Fish & Wildlife Service's recently-completed lamprey barrier on Trail Creek could have been. Instead, sportsmen and women are stuck with a 200-foot No Fishing Zone. Imagine what could have been done with the $1.9 ...
- The Fishing Report: Sturgeon going for shrimp bait in south Napa River
- That touch of lamprey eel helps, too. They can't strip it off the hook very easily. No reports on striper action this week. I don't expect them to be active, especially if the water browns up. It's only $25 and a great, inexpensive way for you to ?make ...
- OUTDOORS: Lower Columbia fishing set, halibut hold line
- Fingered as principle causal factors for the sturgeon slide are sea lion predation that has been on the upswing as well as a noticeable drop in the ancient fish's forage, specifically smelt and lamprey. No matter what the adverse influences are, ...

Lamprey
Lamprey blogs
Updated every 30 minutes
- Eric Sharp: Good, bad news on lampreys
- While lamprey numbers have been reduced by 90% in the other Great Lakes, they remain high in Lake Erie. Lampreys clamp onto fish, using a tongue like a file to bore into fish and live off their blood and body fluids. / SUSAN TUSA/Detroit Free Press By ...
- What could have been
- By Mike McKee That's what the US Fish & Wildlife Service's recently-completed lamprey barrier on Trail Creek could have been. Instead, sportsmen and women are stuck with a 200-foot No Fishing Zone. Imagine what could have been done with the $1.9 ...
- The Fishing Report: Sturgeon going for shrimp bait in south Napa River
- That touch of lamprey eel helps, too. They can't strip it off the hook very easily. No reports on striper action this week. I don't expect them to be active, especially if the water browns up. It's only $25 and a great, inexpensive way for you to ?make ...
- Meyer: It's about the river AND the fish …
- But Mr. Deen cites as salmon program benefits ?growing populations of other anadromous fish,? specifically shad and lamprey. Science is, and should be, about measurable results. Yet in results coming back from a hatchery program dedicated to elite ...
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Lamprey taxonomy
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Lamprey links
- Life in UK Rivers Homepage
- The river lamprey is found only in western Europe, ranging from southern ... The brook lamprey is a purely freshwater species occurring in streams and, ...
- Short illustrated article about lampreys.
- Introduction to the Petromyzontiformes
Lampreys
The long, eel-like fish drinking the blood of this lake trout is one of
nearly fifty species of lampreys, a group of jawless fishes
found in temperate rivers and coastal seas.
Some species live in fresh water for their entire lives. Others, like the... - River lamprey - Lampetra fluviatilis - ARKive
- ARKive - Images of life on Earth. A new digital library of photographs, film clips and accompanying information about endangered species, created by Wildscreen.Overview of River lamprey (Lampetra fluviatilis) in the British Chapter
- BBC News | SCI/TECH | Fish-brained robot at Science Museum
- A robot that is controlled by the brain of a fish goes on display at the Science Museum, London, UK.
- Forget the whale: what about the lamprey? from Guardian Unlimited: News blog
- For instance lampreys - a threatened species of parasitic fish - have returned to the Thames in the last two years, to the excitement of the Thames Explorer ...
Comments
Lamprey
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Reply
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stargazer00
Aug 18, 2008 @ 11:40 pm | delete
- Eels are pretty interesting creatures all right.
5* and lensrolled.
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BYE!
Hope to see you again soon...
HILLANDGLEN by Hillandglen
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