Lampreys or lamprey eel are creatures right out of sci-fi horror movies! They’re parasitic marine animals with a toothed, funnel-like sucking mouth. The lampreys fall off the host fish after they’re appetite is satisfied or if the host fish dies. A single lamprey can kill 40 pounds of fish within its 18 month life as an adult.
Lampreys resemble eel with their slender sleek bodies, they're scale less and can be anywhere between 5 to 40 inches in length. They have two large eyes, no fins, one giant nostril on the top of their heads and seven gills on either side of their bodies.
The larvae stage which lasts upto seven years eventually leads to the development of this efficient swimming parasitic predator.
The adult lamprey feeds by attaching its mouth to a fish, secreting an anti-coagulant, and gorging on the blood and tissues of the host. The lampreys usually cause serious sometimes fatal wounds on their victims, that is if the victim actually survives the ordeal.
Oddly enough this blood sucking predator makes for a tasty snack, well, atleast they say it does. The lampeys have long been eaten as a delicacy, right from the middle ages in Europe to modern day Spain, Portugal and France. They're also widely consumed in Sweden, Finland, and South Korea.
Presumably nothing says bon-appétit like a 40 inch fourteen gilled blood sucker, but then again our tastes may be pretty orthodox. Are they a danger to humans? Lampreys are opportunistic predators and will attack anything with a pulse when hungry enough, though why a person would go skinny-dipping with a known lamprey threat would be a mystery.
Please don't try this at home/ in dorm rooms.
Image Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Images used are subject to copyrights and are being used with explicit permisson. Do not reproduce.
TrackBack URI for this entry
