We landed a small blackmouth near West Point today. Attached to his back, just behind the dorsal was a small lamprey eel. It ws only about seven inches long and about as big around as a pencil. That was the first one I have ever encountered in Puget Sound. Have you guys been seeing any?

Not all that uncommon.

Have seen two this fall/winter. The last one was about a month ago; also at shilshole.

A couple of years ago we had one attach itself to a cut plug herring.

Tight lines
Curt

The only place I've ever seen them around here is in a freshwater creek near my house that is a tributary to Lake Whatcom. They weren't nearly as big as what you describred and, from what I could tell, they were "holding" in a micro-pool... perhaps spawning?

I'd be curious to know if that blackmouth acquired that pest in the salt or drug it out there from the river?

i have seen them dead in the sol duc, but never in the salt

I see a handful of dead, spawned out ones in the Wynoochee each summer. 3/4 " wide and 12-15 " long.

The summer I spent deckhanding out of Westport, we would occassionally see circular sets of scales missing from the sides of landed salmon where a lamprey had attempted to attach and failed.

Nasty buggers. Glad they don't fancy humans!

We used to find small ones under rocks in the PS when I was a kid.

+1.

Used to see them in the Newaukum as a kid. Used to try and gaff them for fun. Never had any luck. Slippery buggers.

i believe those are eels...

The Tribes are very concerned about lamprey but they are not gathering much support. I wonder why? Could it be difficult to gain public support on a parasite that preys on salmon and steelhead? Their numbers have fallen just like all the rest of the native fishes.

Years ago we dipnetted them at night out of the fish ladders and radio tagged them. It was pretty wild letting them attach themselves to your bare arm.

I have seen dead juveniles in the Yakima but we did capture some live juveniles on underwater video in the Columbia. I bet the bass eat the crap out of them during emergence.

By the way, even though everybody calls them eels, technically I don't believe they are.

Lamprey are pretty interesting critter. Here in PNW we have 3 species (the Pacific, river and western brook). The Pacific and river are anadromous with the pacific being the more common and likely the species that Dave say the other day. The brook lamprey is strictly freshwater species whose adult phase in non-parasitic (AP - that likely is the species you saw in the Whatcom tribs).

Up to 30 years lampreys were common through out the PNW and often seen in our local rivers. They are spring spawners with a timing similar to that of steelhead. They also construct redds that at least superfically look like steelhead redds.

As mentioned they were quite numerous but in recent decades their populations have crashed and headed to ESA listing across the region; likely for much the same reasons that our steelhead populations have fallen on hard times.

Now if we can just get the State to go to selective fisheries with Wild Lamprey Release (WLR) management, end those lamprey hatchery programs and get rid of the lamprey gill net fisheries (both treaty and non-treaty) we will see populations quickly rebounding to carrying capacity (very much t.i.c.).

Tight lines
Curt

A bit of background on why lamprey haven't been listed yet and why we should care. Lamprey are and have been an important food source for native people from the Yukon to the Sacramento River. The Arctic lamprey is the common one in the north and the Pacific lamprey is the one found most often in our region. As Smalma stated they are spring spawners, entering the river in the previous summer and fall. They swim into the rivers, like salmon they do not feed on their spawning migration. After spawning they die within 4 days. When the eggs hatch the larval lamprey bury themselves in sediments, in back eddies and sloughs, from 4 to 6 years. When they emerge from the mud the juveniles have neither eyes or a mouth. At this stage they are referred to as transformers, as they migrate towards the sea they develop eyes and a mouth and are quickly ready to feed. They feed on fish primarily but also attach to marine mammals.

At this time the US Army Corp of Engineers and BPA are spending several million dollars annually attempting to improve lamprey populations in the Columbia Basin. Aside from the usual problems of habitat and fisheries the unique problem in the Columbia Basin is the fish passage facilities at the dams. They were designed for salmon, with gradients and flow suitable for salmon. Lamprey have difficulty swimming against the high flows so they use a sort of attach to the wall crawling technique to move through the passage facilities. Even the smallest obstruction, such as caulk in a seam can stop them. USACE is spending big money every year to develop passage facilities that lamprey can use. The USACE Anadromous Fish Evaluation Program meeting earlier this month had a full 1/2 day of talks about lamprey research and programs. An interesting fact from the speakers. When salmon and steelhead are collected for transport down stream juvenile lamprey are also collected. By the time they reach the release site almost all of the lamprey have attached themselves to a fish. Smolts that died during transport often have up to 6 lamprey attached. It seems that they like their meal already dead. Lamprey are found attached to salmon by researchers on Japanese high seas research vessels.

What has delayed lamprey from being listed? The primary reason that they haven't been listed is that an ESU hasn't been determined. Not enough genetic work has been done to say if populations in different watershed are uniquely identifiable. It is not known if lamprey have fidelity to a home stream or spawn where fate takes them. It is possible that all of the lamprey along the Northwest coast are one population but it seems more likely that different river systems would have different populations. A listing of lamprey could cause problems for all of us. In the Columbia and Snake the upstream passage problem would require an even greater investment. Downstream migration is also a concern. The bigger disruption in things as usual is a habitat issue arising from the unique life history of the lamprey. The 4 to 6 years they spend buried in the sediments is where the problem arises. Those sediments are where many of the toxic pesticides, fertilizers, and industrial pollutants accumulate. The only way to protect the lamprey from the pollutants is to stop pollutants from entering the system and to remove the toxic sediments. It may not be much of a problem in higher elevation headwater streams but it would be a major disruption in lower elevation agricultural and urban areas.

Beware the "Smilin' Chinaman" sign!

In case some haven't seen it....

At one time there where a lot of them on the Cowlitz... They would spawn in the creek in front of my house. Down really see them any more..

Dave,

I caught a salmon last year off of Baby Island that had a lamprey attached.
I believe Fishnut got another in the same place a few weeks back in the same area. Yours is the third report that I have heard.

Spud
FISHTALE 2

Years ago, I watched them climb vertical concrete wall at the Bonneville Dam. As long as there was a film of water running down the concrete, they could climb it. It was strange to watch. They would just hang there vertically, then wiggle like hell up an inch or two and then hang again.
I had heard that they were edible, so I caught a couple by putting my sock on my hand and then bashing their head against a rock.
Cleaned them (only killed two) and fried hot dog lengths in a frying pan on a Coleman camp stove. Taste was good, but quite oily. It was one of those, "OK, done that." kind of things. They were commonly used as sturgeon bait back then.