Parasitic 'vampire fish' on killing spree in Lake Ontario and Toronto's rivers Toronto LakeOntario
Those rings of keratinized teeth don't quite bite prey, acting more like articulated sawblades that grind away at tissue, working in conjunction with a sharp tongue that probes and stabs the victim. That blood stays flowing thanks to an anticoagulant, hemolytic, and cytolytic chemical secreted in its saliva called lamphredin.
But much more about these animals is not known by scientists, like how they got here, or if they even belong. Sea lampreys were first noted in Lake Ontario almost two centuries ago, in the years after the opening of the Erie Canal. There is some question as to whether the animals actually had a native presence in Lake Ontario via its connection to the Atlantic, or invaded through artificial canal links with smaller bodies of water in New York and Vermont, where the species is also native.
However long they've been in the Great Lakes, their populations are now rising sharply, and lampreys are a growing problem for commercial fishing. An about these blood-sucking menaces' impacts on the fishing industry in the Great Lakes has only further piqued the public's fearful curiosity.
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