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How deep do ammocoetes bury themselves?


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#1 Guest_JohnO_*

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Posted 20 November 2008 - 11:08 AM

On a trip to the Red River in E KY last summer, we came across what looked like a dead mountain brook or least brook lamprey. About five inches long, a little thinner than a pencil, definitely had the lamprey head. So there must be live ones in there.

How deep do they bury themselves, and what sort of substrate do they prefer? I'd love to have a look at a live one.

#2 Guest_fritz_*

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Posted 20 November 2008 - 11:35 AM

On a trip to the Red River in E KY last summer, we came across what looked like a dead mountain brook or least brook lamprey. About five inches long, a little thinner than a pencil, definitely had the lamprey head. So there must be live ones in there.

How deep do they bury themselves, and what sort of substrate do they prefer? I'd love to have a look at a live one.


I have not observed them in an aquarium but the assumption is that they are buried up to just below the gill pores. The ones I've collected in the Coastal Plain of Delaware were in soft sediment. In Piedmont streams, I've found them in silty/sandy pools and close to the bank.

#3 Guest_Kanus_*

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Posted 20 November 2008 - 07:18 PM

I caught one on accident while taking a five gallon bucket to scoop some sand up for my aquarium, so I would say he was less than 3 inches into the sand. I'm pretty sure people get them seining occasionally too, which means they would be close enough to the surface to be disturbed by the lead line or footsteps close by.

#4 Guest_Brooklamprey_*

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Posted 20 November 2008 - 09:46 PM

They generally make a burrow that is U shaped and not often deeper than 5 inches. Substrate type is almost always a soft flocculate material of organic debris and sand. Occasionally some species also frequent twig and leaf litter or take refuge under overgrown banks with a lot of exposed root material, under rocks or artificial debris (garbage) near soft substrate areas, or in gravel deposits. Where they are present it is easy to stir them up and there can be hundreds around. Hard part is finding that perfect locality.

From my own work I have found they are very cyclic in nature. some years they are everywhere and then suddenly there are few or none. Past two years have been the worst I've ever seen around here. (Note: I'm looking for Native species in areas not treated with TFM applications or any other Lampricide treatments) These things have become very hard to find. I'm finding one or two in areas that used to produce a hundred with the same applied effort.

#5 Guest_reivertom_*

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Posted 02 January 2009 - 01:28 PM

Hello!
I'm new to the forum , but I've had a facination about Native Fish all my life. When I was a kid (in the 60's) native lamprey's commonly used for bass bait and my dad had used them since the 30's. We used a flyrod with a cork bobber, small splitshot and a #6 wire hook. We would toss them along the bank around stumps, etc. If you didn't buy them (yes they were sold in most good bait shops), you could go digging for them in creeks. The way we did it was find a area with a built up leaf bed on the bottom and dig for them with a multi tined coal fork. This allowed the water to drain out and the matted leaves and muck to remain on the fork. You would just throw it on the nearest bank and be prepared to grab any eels that came with it. We would always return the leaves to where they came from to preserve the "eel bed" as we called them. This was hard work, but a few eels would catch several bass before they gave up the ghost. I haven't dug for eels since the early 70's and don't plan to do it anymore. It may be illegal now, as I haven't seen eels used for bait since I was a kid. In certain instances, they we deadly on finicky bass in these clear water lakes around my area.

#6 Guest_farmertodd_*

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Posted 02 January 2009 - 03:53 PM

Hi John,

To find them with a net, you pretty much have to destroy the habitat (electrofishing is much less destructive).

The best way with normal abundances is to find the leafiest, stickyiest, organicist area in the stream, usually on the end of a sand point bar or the tailings of a secondary channel that's right off the main flow, block it in with the seine, and then chew the stuff up. And I mean really chew it up. Then comes the fun sorting through all the organic material. Make multiple passes, they'll stay in the area. If they're there, you'll continue to pull them out even 8 or 10 seine hauls later. They try and get back into the stuff.

But like I said, you totally destroy the habitat. I'd encourage you to look for less structured organic material (maybe in shallow depressions that have upstream structure that allows the detritus to settle), or large areas of good habitat where you only disturb a portion of it, because they really won't be able to use that habitat any longer. If it was just a patch, you've pretty much destroyed recruitment for that patch. A lot of times in KY, DNR has stocked trout in those streams, and they're more than glad for the lamprey offering you just made to them :)

They're totally fun to observe while at the stream, and I had success keeping a few in my deep substrates at home. I never saw them until I tore down the tank, or moved a rock or driftwood around. And then they were usually announced with a shriek :)

Todd



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