Lampreys...
KarenT
Charter Member
I guess it's good environmental news that the water is so much cleaner, but there's no need to be encouraging them.
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/04/older-than-the-dinosaurs-lamprey-fish-return-to-uk-rivers-after-200-years
Comments
The idea of being latched onto by a lamprey eel (Marilyn Bell had to pull them off of her during training and when she became the first person to swim across Lake Ontario) was enough to end that dream for me. I can deal with jellies, but something that looks like this:
and can do this to a fish:
was just enough for me to not be interested. Fortunately, although lampreys continue to inhabit the Great Lakes, they haven't bothered swimmers in decades.
I'm told they're in the Schuylkill where I train but have never thankfully encountered any. And they had a lot of shots at me yesterday. <knock wood I don't tangle w them on any future swims> I try not to think about potential... er...wildlife I might run across or I'd never jump in! Fortunately, most of my early swim lessons were iin (roped off) open water, not a pool, so I developed early the ability to wear psychological blinders in open water.
Something to look out for swimming Tsugaru.
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams
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Sweet creeping Jesus... What is that thing? It looks like some of my relatives, but my family doesn't come from there.
-LBJ
“Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.” - Oscar Wilde
It's a wolffish, also known as a sea wolf. A very large one. Bottom feeders that eat hard shelled invertebrates so running into one while swimming would probably mean you are already in a world of trouble.
Salt water swimming, even with sharks, looks better and better.
Ain't no lamprey in the fresh water of the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. No sharks or jellies either. Just a swimmer friendly lake creature, Memphre (Ask Billy Connor if you don't believe me.) Just sayin'
Tell me people... do lampreys bite humans, or just scare the living daylights out of us?
Answering my own question with an expert (thanks, Jamie P!):
"...sea lampreys have accidentally attached to long-distance swimmers in the past (although it's super rare). It happened once in 1929 during the "Wrigley 10-mile women's race" in Lake Ontario. In the news, it was reported that the swimmer (Vivian Lee Walsh, from Ohio) just pulled the lamprey off and kept swimming. Lampreys some times like to attach to moving objects to rest, kind of like hitch-hikers. If by the super rare chance one does attach to you while you are swimming, just pop it off like you would a suction cup from a window - then keep on keeping on like good old Vivian did."
-Cory O. Brant, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow - Water Center
University of Michigan
Graham Sustainability Institute
I knew I shouldn't have clicked on this thread. Peeing in the pool and now this.... I'm going to take up tai chi.
I work as a consultant for the state of Pennsylvania and the various departments will occasionally setup tables in the one building and state workers can walk through and get info about what each department does. The state Fish and Boat Commission recently had a booth setup and were giving away colorful posters of the fish of Pennsylvania, so I took a few. It turns out that there are no less then 5 types of these blood-sucking horrors swimming in the state's waters according to the poster. Good God...
-LBJ
“Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.” - Oscar Wilde
NOT in the Schuylkill. ... just say that and make me feel better!
This could be worse than lampreys. Ewww.
We're all just carbon, water, starlight, oxygen and dreams