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Scientists are on the lookout for sea lampreys in Kalamzoo River

Flickr User NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
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https://flic.kr/p/ejnacv

Scientists at the U-S Fish and Wildlife Service are looking for sea lampreys in streams that flow into the Kalamazoo River.

Lampreys have been an invasive pest in the Great Lakes for almost 200 years. They latch onto other fish and kill up to 40 pounds of trout and salmon as they grow. Matt Lipps at the Fish and Wildlife Service says his crew will go “electro-fishing” for lamprey larvae. They live in creek beds before moving to the lakes when they get older:

“People kind of refer to it as, we kind of look like Ghostbusters. So, we send a little pulse of electricity into the substrate and it agitates the sea lamprey out of the muck. And then we collect them and we measure them…”

Lipps says the agency is planning a second round of surveys next month.