Sea Lamprey Research Paper

681 Words3 Pages
Invasive Species-Sea Lamprey My invasive species is the Sea Lamprey. Its Kingdom is Animalia, the phylum is Chordata, its class is Cephalaspidomorphi, the order is Petromyzontiformes, the family is petromyzontidae, the genus is petromyzon, and the species is petromyzon marinus. The sea Lamprey has many adaptations that allow it to stay alive and successful in its habitat. It has a good sense of smell which allows it to know prey or predator is coming its way. It has two dorsal fins. Dorsal fins are triangular fins that dolphins or sharks have. They keep the Sea Lamprey from rolling over and to help make sudden turns. It has a suction cup that helps it hold its prey. The Sea Lamprey has sharp teeth to get a grip on the fish and then it uses…show more content…
They were first seen in Lake Ontario in the 1830’s. Shipping canals are for ships and they connect oceans, seas and lakes which is why Lampreys were able to get through. Almost all the native fish are being affected by Sea Lampreys (e.g. trout, salmon, catfish, bass, carp etc.) The Sea Lampreys are disrupting the ecosystem and if that doesn’t stop life will not be able to grow anymore even the Sea Lamprey because eventually they will also run out of food. In 1991 U.S and Canada were spending eight billion per year on Lamprey control. We still spend money on Lamprey control, but the Lamprey population is still out of control. As I said, people eat Sea Lamprey. That is also helping to reduce some of the lamprey. Traps are also set where adult Sea Lampreys spawn. This is not very efficient because it does not trap the lampreys in big amounts. Future invasions can be prevented by monitoring shipping canals and putting barriers. The benefits of these species is now, we are more precautious for any more invasive species. We have learned to put any type of species into another habitat because now we know what can happen. This has also lead our scientists to research more about these
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