Interesting Find

[foxfire]

Found a live lamprey on saturday while fishing the Loyalhanna. Shocked the heck out me but have since found they are non parasitic - a Mountain Brook Lamprey or American Brook Lamprey perhaps?? Can anyone provide addition info?? Are they rare? Are they a water quality indicator? I didnt get a picture and I probably should have chucked it into the bushes.

 

[brookieaddict]

I hope you killed it. If it was a true Lamprey it is parasitic. In Latin it was called lampreda, old French lampere and Middle English Lamperi they all mean to prey upon. They are all killers of fish, you should call the PFBC and report it they can dose the stream and kill all of them wihout hurting any other creature that inhabits the stream.

 

[pcray1231]

It most likely is the Ohio lamprey, and while rare overall, is reasonably common throughout the Ohio drainage, and parasitic, though much smaller than the sea lampreys found in the Delaware and great lakes drainages. I see large numbers of them in the NW portion of the state. Oil Creek is a good example that seems to have a lot. At certain times of the year, you can see them in numbers lying belly up on the streambed, not sure if they are dead (after breeding), exhibiting mating behavior, or waiting for a host to swim over? Occasionally you catch trout with them attached as well. I've caught fish in the Kiski with them attached (I grew up in Leechburg, PA), so them being in the Loyalhanna makes sense.

Northern Brook Lamprey, in PA, is only found in the Great Lakes system.

American Brook Lamprey, in PA, is only in the upper reaches of the Allegheny watershed plus great lakes and Genesee watersheds.

Mountain Brook Lamprey is a possibility as they are in the Ohio drainage, but significantly more rare. It is nonparasitic.

Least Brook Lamprey is another possibility, but also rare and typically only in extreme headwaters.

Ohio lamprey makes the most sense.

 

[lycoflyfisher]

I know some electrofishing crews doing surveys for unassessed waters found mountain brook and american brook lampreys in a few tributaries in the allegheny watershed in potter county last year. the same crew has sampled some of the genesee tributaries as well, but I do not believe any were found there.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

Nasty little blood suckers.

 

[FarmerDave]

Saw an eel in Oil Creek once. I was wet wading at the time and was just below one of the bridges. I stepped on it trying to kill it, and it tried to attach to my ankle.

I'm glad I wasn't under the bridge or I might have hit my head.

Don't worry, the eel was fine. Bottom was too soft.

 

[FarmerDave]

foxfire wrote:
Shocked the heck out me

That would be an electric eel. ;-)

 

[pcray1231]

In hindsight, I amend the previous.

It is most likely the Least Brook Lamprey.

This page gives factsheets where current knowledge exists of various semi-threatened species.

http://www.naturalheritage.state.pa.us/factsheets.aspx#fish

Least Brook shows SW PA, including Indiana and Westmoreland Counties. The Ohio shows mostly NW and NC PA. Mountain Brook similar range. Northern Brook only found in Conneaut Creek in Crawford.

 

[pete41]

Saw a cottonmouth down here in Florida when I was wet wading a pond-didn't try to kill it or the gator I stepped on either.Okay the gator was under a bit of grass but I didn't hang around to find out if it was its lair or not,decided to do the better part of valor bit in both cases. Also stepped on a couple rocks in the rip rap along rivers in Montana that had rattlers under them.Like Farmer I will take the high ground and use the Peta excuse.

 

[McSneek]

foxfire wrote:
Found a live lamprey on Saturday while fishing the Loyalhanna.

Used to see them in Mill Creek when i was a kid. Would make sense since it's a trib to the Loyalhanna.

I'll go with PCray's findings and say they are Least Brook lampreys. Non-parasitic by the way.

 

[foxfire]

Great info. Thanks p. It was barely alive, just lifted from water. Hopefully it is a non parasitic type. I felt guilty for not killing it!

 

[pcray1231]

Well, the only way it was parasitic is if it were an Ohio lamprey (which is possible).

They ARE parasitic, but are native, so they don't tend to overpopulate and do much damage on fish populations. They also typically detach before harming the fish to the extent of death.

The sea lamprey is the one that associates the word "lamprey" with "evil", and even then, is overly harmful generally only in places where it's invasive. Like, say, the great lakes.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

So what your saying is things from Ohio kinda just latch on and drain the life out of ya



Maybe I didn't read it correctly with my glasses off.

 

[FarmerDave]

Pat, the description of Ohio Lamprey is bluish to gray. I'm pretty sure the one I saw in Oil Creek was brown, but it was a log time ago. Do you know if there there other types of lamprey in there?

Not very big. Maybe 6 or 8 inches long.

 

[pcray1231]

Farmer,

I don't know. The most likely other would be the Mountain brook, which is more brown than gray. Same general range. But specifically, the range map on that link shows a noticeable spot for Oil on the Ohio lamprey, but has the entire county of Venango listed as "historical range" for the mountain brook (though both Crawford and Warren are listed "current range").

Also says the Ohio lamprey tends to be found in medium to large streams, and the Mountain brook further into the headwaters. But then it also says that both have been observed on the same spawning beds, so....

FWIW, the ones I always see in Oil look white/silver to me. They're laying on the bottom in flatwater rocky areas, belly up. Can't say I've ever picked one up, but I did not believe them to be dead. Mating or hunting, I'm not sure.

I have cut them off fish in Oil, so those would HAVE to be the Ohio as it's the only parasitic one outside of the sea lampreys, which DEFINITELY aren't there. But it's possible both varieties are there, and I can't say for sure whether the bottom huggers are the same species as the ones attached, I just assumed they were.

 

[pabrookie94]

Unlike oceanic lamprey the one you found is most likely not parasitic. I had one that was attached to my 40 inch musky over the summer and I had no clue what it was until I did some research. I would post the pic to show you and compare but I can't even get a profile pic on here...

 

[pabrookie94]

I think I figured it out. You can barely see it hanging by his gill plate. It is a tannish color.

 

[FarmerDave]

Pat, it was definitely in sole slow flat water. Must have been an Ohio Lamprey. I just remember it being darker brown than the description in the link. But it was a long time ago, so I could be misremembering. Maybe younger ones are darker.

I knew nothing about them back then, but had heard about the sea lamprey in lake erie. I saw that thing in Oil Creek and said WTH. Thought it was a baby and what was it doing there? So I figured it must be a bad thing so I stepped on it. First lamprey of any kind that I ever saw.

Probably late 80s.

 

[Chaz]

What I don't get is why anyone would wantonly kill a animal not know what it was, even if is thought to be parasitic. Lampreys are a part of the greater biosphere, as such should be left in the environment they evolved in.

 

[pcray1231]

Chaz, don't think we're disagreeing here. Sea lampreys are NOT native to the great lakes (well, they're not sure about Ontario, but definitely not Erie, Michigan, Huron, Superior). They came after the canals were built and overpopulated. They absolutely decimated some native populations to extinction or near extinction, notably the Lake Trout, which was a hugely popular sport and commercial fishery. That in turn has led to an explosion of alewives that have changed the entire ecosystem. They are only held in check today by mass dosages of lampricide applied by the federal government to our fisheries, and there are debates about the environmental consequences of that.

Suffice to say, they got themselves a bad name among fishermen in and around the great lakes region. Anglers didn't know there were umpteen varieties of lampreys, and some weren't so harmful. Farmer and I both grew up under the influence of the Erie fishery. Hence finding lampreys in streams not connected to the great lakes was quite worrisome and they were to be eliminated at all costs.

Anyway, that's not excusing ignorance, just explaining where it comes from. I wouldn't, and don't kill native variety lampreys today.