Eliminating bloodsucking pests

For those who don’t know sea lamprey are a fish that has a parasitic stage. Although called sea lamprey they are more commonly found in the great lake and have done catastrophic damage to the economy and environment there. Fortunately the Great lakes fisheries commission has been able to bring them down to manageable levels (https://www.glfc.org/ their website) but they still cause mass damage and are believed to be one of the leading factors that decimated the lake trout population. The Great lakes fisheries commission website has a lot of information for those that like to read a lot. Source : I’m a parasitologist, mod of r/parasitology and I made a 7min video that goes into greater detail (https://youtu.be/3OKcWkBJQNA) on this parasite and thought they were brutal and interesting

Crazy that things can be so different in different ecosystems. Lampreys are protected over here in the pnw

Yep, there are native species to the Great lakes it’s really just the sea lamprey that’s problematic

Lampreys and the zebra mussels are really shitty invasive species. Hope we can eradicate them some day, they have done too much damage to the ecosystem.

Zebra mussels especially apparently.

They completely obliterated the local fresh water shellfish population and because they have razor sharp edges, they will slice your foot open if you step on one.

A buddy of mine got a nasty foot infection from one. Hate these so much.

Zebra muscles combined with local farmers have completely decimated the biggest fresh water/water supply in my country. For anyone curious check out Lough Neagh and how Zebra muscles invaded the Lough and feed on the natural water filters, meaning more direct sunlight into the Lough which results in blue green algae blooms on a scale never recorded in our countries history. Combine this with chemical offrun and waste deposal by farmers who don’t care about their surroundings and the Lough is now deemed too toxic to swim in for adults and dogs, and multiple dogs, horses and wildlife have died from ingesting the water. Not only is it very scary, it’s very sad that political incompetence had allowed this to happen to the biggest fresh water supply in our country. [This guy made an amazing documentary about it here on YouTube](https://youtu.be/HXT1yMD2kZA?si=KFQ3iNginWpbhssA)

Here’s a site about the edible invaders. [Eat the invaders.](http://eattheinvaders.org/)

From what I can tell, not only are they two different species, but also from two different genus. Pacific lamprey: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific\_lamprey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_lamprey) Sea lamprey: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea\_lamprey](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_lamprey)

What we consider a species’ name is usually the genus + species. ie: Homo Sapiens, Felis Catus, E. coli

The traditional practice if you want to be specific (heh) is that you would use the abbreviated genus and the species name (and typically in italics) as in the case of *E. coli* but the other examples you’d usually just use *H. sapiens* or *F. catus* unless there the genus was germane to the discussion.

I’m about to e.coli on your face.

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You can be a second-hand knower of me, a guy who recognizes the commonly misspelled Niagara and will correct you.

Gahh I worked in a neurobio research lab in undergrad that used ammocoete lampreys as a model since they’re the lowest (simplest?) form of vertebrate. I learned my lesson that the problem a study is trying to answer may sound cool but the method of investigation is far from glamorous. I still have nightmares about those little bastards and their tank.

>Gahh I worked in a neurobio research lab in undergrad that used ammocoete lampreys as a model since they’re the lowest (simplest?) form of vertebrate. I think that the hagfish lineage diverged from the Agnathan common ancestor before lamprey did which makes hagfish the “simpler” vertebrate between the two extant members of the group. Phylogenetic pedantry fully at play here.

Youre technically correct which as we all know is the best kind but I guarantee they chose to dodge the hagfish intentionally due to the insane amounts of slime.

Was about to ask why they were taking them off the fish, if for fishing or as consevation reasons, thanks for the explanation.

Any time

Thanks. New sub to browse. Might I offer you a fun fact about Lampreys?

This guy parasites

we should be eating them

Many people do. Apparently they’re delicious

I think a king of England died from an indigestion after eating too many of those blood suckers. Henry whatshisname.

The 5th

I thought he only executed some wives, not ate them? I don’t know, I haven’t seen his musical

It was another Henry.

I saw the musical, my wife really wanted to go. I know no more about him than I did before, but I have two ridiculous songs forever stuck in my head now.

Thats Henry the 8th.