Pacific Lamprey

[adrianna3]

Released an undersized chinook today, but noticed it had a lamprey hanging off of it. I managed to grab it with the pliers and throw it in the boat. The fish was fine.

Has anyone else caught salmon with lampreys on them? I didn't know they were a problem here.

Dave

 

[trendsetter]

In 2010 I caught a sockeye with one attached. Also caught a few soxs that had the circular scar of where one had been attached but came off.

 

[KCW]

Caught some large cutty's in cowichan lake with the ugly critter's attached.

 

[adrianna3]

I knew we had them in Lake Cowichan, but not in saltwater. After doing a little internet research, it seems they are fairly common in the Puget sound area. The chinook was a hatchery fish, so perhaps it was from that area.

Dave

 

[Seafever]

On "Yukon Men" they use those things for sled-dog food in Alaska. They all come up the river in a big school and they net them. First time I ever saw that.

 

[agentaqua]

Scientific name for the Atlantic lamprey is Petromyzon marinus – or “rock-sucker from the sea”. In the spring the adults come up the rivers [like salmon] to spawn, and the male sticks around for a week or two after spawning to guard the nest – which is the best time to net them. They can get through rapids and gradients over 20% as they actually do open their face and suck onto rocks and twist their bodies up to the next pool, and then let go. It's both interesting and disgusting to watch. The scientific name nailed it. The larval forms imbed into soft substrate after hatching and filter feed until they get big enough to try and suck onto salmonids and rasp away their skin with their tongue and drink their hosts blood and body fluids. If you drain a beaver dam you will see the ravens congregate in the trees surrounding the dam waiting for the larval/juvenile lampreys wiggle out of their holes and onto the mud when their holes get uncovered by falling water levels.

 

[meatwagon]

Caught cutties with em attached. Pretty weird.

 

[Canso]

not sure if they are the same, but when I was young we would throw a bail of hay in a ditch by the river and catch ditch eels for sturgeon bait.
best bait this time of year.

 

[agentaqua]

What did the hay do? The juveniles of the lamprey (like adults) do NOT have opercular flaps like normal fish, but rather a series of i think 7 holes along both sides of the head/upper "neck". They can open and close their faces at all ages too. If you look at them close, the mouth of each species has a different pattern of teeth. That's how you ID to species. As far as I know there are 2 species in the Pacific - the larger Pacific lamprey, and a smaller brook lamprey. Stole these pics off the web:

 

[agentaqua]

there are eel-like fish (e.g. blennies) that like the upper intertidal reaches of estuaries and hide and spawn in the grass/sedges at the edge of the estuary. They stay small as adults and have dorsal fins and opercular flaps if you look closely.

 

[adrianna3]

Agentaqua! Long time no see. I wasn't sure you were still on here.

Yes, the lamprey was a surprise to me. I've never seen them on salmon. How much do you know about them? From the literature I've been able to find online they seem fairly prevalent in the Puget Sound area rivers. Do you know if they hitch a ride for the life of the salmon and stay with it until the salmon returns to it's home river? It would seem like a logical thing for that type of parasite to do.

Dave

 

[agentaqua]

I only know what I read - but apparently they can stay on long enough to kill the salmon, although sometimes the salmon knocks them off before that happens - which is why we sometimes see the scars on the salmon.

Apparently they spend up to 6 years in the freshwater as juvies in the mud (if they survive not being eaten), then metamorphose in the spring freshet and come out to look for salmon. It's surprising how many dozens and hundreds of juvies are hidden in the mud in creeks.

I have caught smolted lampreys in fish fences and trawls. Then apparently - if they survive - they come back to spawn in a couple of years as big, gross-looking adults. I'm not sure if the stream lamprey also has an obligtory marine part of the life cycle - I'll have to look that up.

 

[Canso]

What did the hay do? The juveniles of the lamprey (like adults) do NOT have opercular flaps like normal fish, but rather a series of i think 7 holes along both sides of the head/upper "neck". They can open and close their faces at all ages too. If you look at them close, the mouth of each species has a different pattern of teeth. That's how you ID to species. As far as I know there are 2 species in the Pacific - the larger Pacific lamprey, and a smaller brook lamprey. Stole these pics off the web:

The hay was the trap. They would hide inside the bail no bait needed. Quickly lift the bail and put in a garbage bag they move fast. Btw they are classified as fin fish. It is against the law to do this now

 

[Karlo]

There are parasitic Pacific Lampreys and River Lampreys that spawn in rivers from Northern California to Alaska. The Native People where I grew up caught them at river mouths in March as they came into the rivers, usually at the same time as the oolichan, using fine-mesh dipnets in the eddies, because lampreys are weak swimmers. Because they have no bones and a tiny digestive tract, they're easy to clean. Just circle the skin behind the "portholes", cut off the very tip of the tail, grab the head, and crack it like a whip. The spinal cord comes out attached to the head and guts, and the lamprey can then be smoked in its own skin like a sausage, or skinned and fried.

They're very fat and tasty, and if their appearance or diet put you off trying them, you'd best not look too closely at Dungeness crabs!

 

[Seafever]

I noticed on the t.v. show "Yukon Men" that they let their cache of Lampreys go half-rotten before feeding them to the dogs........why would they do that?