WUFT-TV/FM | WJUF-FM
1200 Weimer Hall | P.O. Box 118405
Gainesville, FL 32611
(352) 392-5551

A service of the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida.

© 2024 WUFT / Division of Media Properties
News and Public Media for North Central Florida
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

'Like something out of a horror movie': Scientists tackle invasive sea lampreys in the Great Lakes

PIEN HUANG, HOST:

Let's check in now on a decadeslong environmental effort focused on a creature that sounds honestly like a nightmare.

MARC GADEN: A tooth-filled mouth, about 100 teeth - The mouth is a suction cup on the end of a snake.

HUANG: He's talking about sea lampreys.

GADEN: The teeth anchor the lamprey mouth to the side of the fish, and then a sharp tongue like a file flicks out and drills its way through the scales and skin of the fish to feed on the fish's blood and body fluids. It's like something out of a horror movie.

HUANG: Oof. And Marc Gaden says if they're left unchecked, lampreys could have ended what's become a $7 billion fishing industry in the Great Lakes. Gaden is executive secretary of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. It's a group that's been working since the 1950s to curb the invasive lamprey population that first made its way to the lakes through canals.

GADEN: Each sea lamprey will kill about 40 pounds of fish, and each female lamprey will lay about 100,000 eggs.

HUANG: The commission's lamprey control program went on pause during the COVID pandemic, and the numbers ticked back up.

GADEN: These sea lampreys bounced back so quickly, it actually astounded a lot of the people in the control program.

HUANG: OK, but here's some comforting news for humans - lampreys only target fish.

GADEN: Nobody needs to worry about being attacked by a lamprey. They don't like warm-blooded creatures.

HUANG: And the better news - this summer, Gaden says thanks to interventions like using a pheromone that lampreys love to chat more of them, these slithery invaders are dwindling back towards pre-pandemic levels once again.

GADEN: We're cautiously optimistic that we'll be meeting the control targets very, very soon. So it really is a success story.

HUANG: In other words, so long, suckers.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Tags