The Sea LampreyBy: Daniel Bassani, Michael Morassutti,

Anastasiya, and Younos

What Is a Sea Lamprey?

An eel-like fish native to the Atlantic Ocean, Baltic Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and Adriatic Sea

Adapted to fresh water bodies such as the Great Lakes, but do not grow as big in size as they do in salt water

Spend from 1-2 years feeding on fishUses its sucker mouth, sharp teeth and

tongue to attach itself to the body of a fish and suck its blood

Fish is left with a circular wound that can get infected and kill it

What is the Sea Lamprey Cont.Cylindrical bodies are 30 to 76 centimetres longCan be dark brown or green/black colourA sea lamprey can destroy up to 18kg of fishAbout 1 in 7 fish can survive a Sea Lamprey

attackThey feed on lake trout, salmon, rainbow trout,

whitefish, chubs, burbot, walleye, catfishEntered the great lakes through man-made

shipping canals in the 1940sHave been living in the ocean for hundreds of

millions of years

How Does It Grow/Reproduce?

1. Spawning phase, sea lamprey migrate into streams and build nests from rocks. They spawn, and then die.

2. Larvae burrow into the river bottom and live there for several years.

3. Larvae transforms into parasitic fish.

4. Parasitic fish grow a suction cup mouth with sharp, hooked teeth. They migrate to open lakes where they prey on fish.

Equipment Used to Find and Track the Sea LampreyIn the earliest attempts to control the Lampreys,

American scientists tested thousands of chemicals before finding one that could kill Lampreys and not harm other species

Today a similar chemical is used to kill Lampreys and not harm other species. It is called Lampricide

Lampricide is used to kill the larvae or reduce their population before they get to their parasitic phase

About 175 lakes and streams are regularly treated with lampricide to reduce their population

Equipment for Tracking Cont.

Small dams can be used to block Lampreys because they are weak swimmers and fish can jump over them

Electric barriers and fast moving currents can also stop them because they are weak swimmers

They sterilize males so they can’t reproduce as quicklyMethod called electrofishing removes Lampreys from their

burrows, in 250 of the 440 streams where lampreys are known to live

Mobile science labs are used to monitor Lampreys in 40 Canadian streams

Barriers are used to stop up-stream migration, but do allow other fish to pass through

The sea lampreys are trapped in traps. They are then used in research and testing

Equipment for Tracking Pictures

(Above) Shows tracking of Sea Lamprey in Great Lakes (Left) Shows

Electrofishing to remove Lamprey from burrows

(Above) Shows a barrier to stop up-stream migration of Sea Lamprey

(Below) Show distribution of Lampricide in a stream

Effect Species has on HumansDamages the great lakes fishery by reducing

fish populationsAttacks lake trout, steelhead, perch and other

species of fishFish have little defence against sea lamprey

attacks and often die from their wounds, which has a profound affect on the ecosystem

From the 1940s to the early 1960s, growing sea lamprey populations we hard to control without modern methods of extermination

How Does the Sea Lamprey Affect Food Webs?

The sea lamprey eats large fish which are at the top of the food web in the Great Lakes

Populations of the smaller fish increase because the large fish aren’t there to eat them

The producers’ population will decrease because the increased population of the smaller fish will eat all of the producer

Eventually it will leave the small fish without food and the whole food web will collapse

Videohttp://youtu.be/9JQ6oHjpeqU

Start at 0:11End at 1:22

Sea Lamprey