A Lot Of Water...

[eric1978]

Thanks for the answer. I had no idea there were lampreys of any sort in Missouri, that's kinda interesting.

Still, I sincerely hope I never catch a fish with one of those nasty buggers attached to it

Really they're just long leeches if you think about it...not that that makes them any less gross. Check your undies Gordy.

[Al Agnew]

The lamprey that devastated the lake trout in the Great Lakes is a non-native species, the sea lamprey, which made its way to the Great Lakes in the bilge and ballast of commercial shipping.

There are actually 6 different species of lampreys in MO. Two of them are parasitic, but one of the parasitic ones apparently only lives in the Mississippi River. The parasitic ones in the Meramec are chestnut lampreys as Adamg said. According to Pflieger in the "Fishes of Missouri", the chestnut lamprey is native to all the Missouri and Arkansas Ozark streams except for the upper White River system. The non-parasitic lampreys are brook lampreys, and there are four species--northern, southern, least, and American.

They have an interesting life history. The young look like adults, but instead of having round, toothed sucker mouths, they have a mouth shaped like a hood, and they have no eyes. They live in the bottom muck and feed upon microscopic life and organic particles, which they sieve out of the water they inhale. The larval stage lasts for one or more years. Then they change into the adult form--all the lampreys, even the non-parasitic ones, have rasping teeth and sucker-like mouths as adults, although in the non-parasitic brook lampreys the teeth are poorly developed. Brook lampreys don't feed at all after transforming into adults--and they usually transform in the fall and don't spawn until spring, so they spend the winter not feeding, and usually decrease in size during that time. They spawn and then die.

Both the chestnut and the brook lampreys build nests of shallow pits excavated near the upper ends of gravelly riffles, but the smaller brook lampreys build less of a pit. The least brook lamprey, which only gets to about 5 inches long, seldom builds a nest at all, but two or more of them have been observed moving one small rock. Some brook lampreys spawn in the nests built by chestnut lampreys.

The chestnut lamprey gets to about 12 inches in length according to the book, but the one I saw yesterday was probably closer to 15 inches. They feed as adults for one to two years, then spawn and die.

Chestnut lampreys attach themselves to various fish, and rasp a hole in the scales and skin of the fish with a hard, tongue-like structure in the middle of the mouth disc, through which they suck blood for several days before dropping off. The host fish doesn't die from the larmprey's feeding, but may die later from infection. The bass I caught yesterday had a round, reddened area where the lamprey had been attached, but no real hole. I've caught some that did have shallow holes where the lamprey attached, and it can be about anywhere on the fish but usually up closer to the head. I once caught a nice largemouth which a lamprey attached to the top of its head between its eyes. I see a lot more fish with lampreys attached in cold weather--could be that it's easier for them to catch up to a fish and attach themselves when the fish is more lethargic in cold water.

[ozark trout fisher]

The lamprey that devastated the lake trout in the Great Lakes is a non-native species, the sea lamprey, which made its way to the Great Lakes in the bilge and ballast of commercial shipping.

There are actually 6 different species of lampreys in MO. Two of them are parasitic, but one of the parasitic ones apparently only lives in the Mississippi River. The parasitic ones in the Meramec are chestnut lampreys as Adamg said. According to Pflieger in the "Fishes of Missouri", the chestnut lamprey is native to all the Missouri and Arkansas Ozark streams except for the upper White River system. The non-parasitic lampreys are brook lampreys, and there are four species--northern, southern, least, and American.

They have an interesting life history. The young look like adults, but instead of having round, toothed sucker mouths, they have a mouth shaped like a hood, and they have no eyes. They live in the bottom muck and feed upon microscopic life and organic particles, which they sieve out of the water they inhale. The larval stage lasts for one or more years. Then they change into the adult form--all the lampreys, even the non-parasitic ones, have rasping teeth and sucker-like mouths as adults, although in the non-parasitic brook lampreys the teeth are poorly developed. Brook lampreys don't feed at all after transforming into adults--and they usually transform in the fall and don't spawn until spring, so they spend the winter not feeding, and usually decrease in size during that time. They spawn and then die.

Both the chestnut and the brook lampreys build nests of shallow pits excavated near the upper ends of gravelly riffles, but the smaller brook lampreys build less of a pit. The least brook lamprey, which only gets to about 5 inches long, seldom builds a nest at all, but two or more of them have been observed moving one small rock. Some brook lampreys spawn in the nests built by chestnut lampreys.

The chestnut lamprey gets to about 12 inches in length according to the book, but the one I saw yesterday was probably closer to 15 inches. They feed as adults for one to two years, then spawn and die.

Chestnut lampreys attach themselves to various fish, and rasp a hole in the scales and skin of the fish with a hard, tongue-like structure in the middle of the mouth disc, through which they suck blood for several days before dropping off. The host fish doesn't die from the larmprey's feeding, but may die later from infection. The bass I caught yesterday had a round, reddened area where the lamprey had been attached, but no real hole. I've caught some that did have shallow holes where the lamprey attached, and it can be about anywhere on the fish but usually up closer to the head. I once caught a nice largemouth which a lamprey attached to the top of its head between its eyes. I see a lot more fish with lampreys attached in cold weather--could be that it's easier for them to catch up to a fish and attach themselves when the fish is more lethargic in cold water.

Interesting stuff. Thanks