Crews To Assess Sea Lamprey Threat On St. Louis & Nemadji Rivers
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is sending assessment crews to the St. Louis River and Nemadji River in an effort to see what kind of threat the parasite poses to Lake Superior Fish. Sea Lamprey are devastating to the fish population, with just one lamprey capable of destroying 40 pounds of fish in it's parasitic phase.
These lampreys are just nasty creatures. They are a snake like fish with a circular sucking mouth full of teeth. They latch on with their suction cup mouth and tear throw fish's scales and suck blood and body fluids right out of the fish, ultimately killing it. They first arrived in the Great Lakes in the 1920's, and they have been a significant threat ever since.
They spawn from larvae upstream on rivers, and that's why the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is assessing the amount of larvae in these local tributaries of the Great Lakes to see what action is needed to battle these parasites.
The assessment will take place June 11-20th.
I've seen many episodes of River Monster's host Jeremy Wade handling some of the ugliest, dangerous, creepiest fish over the years. Watch his reaction to these Sea Lampreys. Even he finds them disgusting.