Sea Lamprey panic response.

[Whitehouse]

I've never heard of this type of fish and I had to google my way to find more information. It's one of the Great Lakes invaders that endanger the fishing industry. Via Boinboing.net I found this clip of a repellant that induces a panic reaction. This is a clip of the University of Michigan.

Fascinating stuff.



More on the Sea Lamprey.

Anyone inhere with experience with these animals?

[Lowell]

Very old news here dating from the 1960's if not earlier. They devastated Great Lakes fisheries, particularly Whitefish, when they first arrived. Their threat has been stabilized by various methods, billions of dollars and introduction of other fish, like Coho Salmon, that are more resistant to them has helped. However, they are here to stay. Maybe they need to be reprogrammed to use Asian Carp as their host.

[Bigb23]

So right Lowell - I guess I panicked about that 50 years ago. My worry now is the Asian carp, the fugliest fish ever known.

[Bigb23]

So right Lowell - I guess I panicked about that 50 years ago. My worry now is the Asian carp, the fugliest fish ever known.

I take that back, these two are fuglier.Attachment 10549Attachment 10550

[jcole]

I had a boyfriend in high school whose father, Vernon Applegate, was the lead scientist assigned to finding a solution to the lamprey. He and his crew, through painstaking trial and error, finally came up with a combination of chemicals that would kill the lamprey but not the other fish in the lakes. Prior to the chemical solution, they had built barriers to keep them from going upstream to spawn.

[MSUguy]

Actually these are from MSU


Underwater view:

[Gsgeorge]

The solution poured into the water is a mixture of ground-up sea lamprey carcasses. The panic response is induced because the sea lampreys are smelling their own deceased.

[jcole]

The original chemical they used in the wild and is still used now is 3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol [[TFM),

[gazhekwe]

Sea lamprey are edible fish, as are Asian carp. One problem I have with the invasive species is how much we spend to fight them, all the while making it illegal for anyone to catch them to sell when there is an actual market for the fish. It seems bass ackwards to me. Why not make it open season on the things, let them get overfished and meantime make some money off them?

Lamprey came in with the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway. They came hitchhiking in on the ocean freighters. They made a horrible mess of the lake trout fishery, prompting all kinds of actions by the State of Michigan to restrict commercial fishing. These restrictions on commercial licenses hurt many fishers. Around this time, a certain group of tribal fishers decided to challenge restrictions on tribal fishing. Result: US v Michigan! The recognition of treaty fishing rights was recognized in the US District Ct, 6th Circuit. Ugly and destructive fish, but there was that silver lining.

[MikeM]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/10/sc...th/10fish.html

“What these species need now is a better — sexier — profile, and more cooks who know how to use them...”

[jbd441]

I remember catching trout back in the 60's -70's with lamprey attached to the side. We rip them off and toss them on the bridge. They are the ugly ass creatures.

[Whitehouse]

Ironically the same happened here with AMERICAN freshwater crayfish. These came over here to the Netherlands in ballast water in ships and are now quite numerous over here. I even saw some on dry land crawling from one end to the other side. But one effective way to get rid of them is harvest and eat them. However, they can also be a host for a type of fungus for wheich tey are resistent but domestic crayfish isn't. In some parts of Europe they have gone completely extinct.

[Gsgeorge]

Yuck, I can't imagine eating a sea lamprey, no matter how well-prepared.

[Ray1936]

The original chemical they used in the wild and is still used now is 3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol [[TFM),

God, I love it when you talk sexy like that.

[Lowell]

Yuck, I can't imagine eating a sea lamprey, no matter how well-prepared.

Try smoked eel the next time you get sushi. You will change your mind.

[Whitehouse]

Strange. Now I see this fish popping all over the internet.

Stumbled upon it in this Boingboing.net article.

Anyone who can identify the cars?