Bergstedt, R.A., and J.G. Seelye, 1995.  Evidence For Lack of Homing by Sea Lampreys, National Biological Service

Reprinted from Transactions of the American Fisheries Society (1995) 124(2): 235-239

Evidence For Lack of Homing by Sea Lampreys

Abstract
Recently metamorphosed sea lampreys Petromyzon marinus were captured in the Devil River, a tributary to Lake Huron, during summer and autumn 1990. They were tagged with a coded wire tag and returned to the river to continue their migration to Lake Huron to begin the parasitic (juvenile) phase of their life. During the spawning run in spring 1992 when the tagged animals were expected to mature and return to spawn, sea lampreys were trapped in nine tributaries to Lake Huron, including the Devil River; 47,946 animals were examined for coded wire tags, and 41 tagged animals were recovered. None of the 45 mature sea lampreys captured in the Devil River in 1992 were tagged, a proportion (0%) significantly lower than the proportion of the recently metamorphosed sea lampreys tagged in 1990. The distribution of tag recoveries among streams lakewide, however, was proportional to catch. Tagged sea lampreys did not appear to home, but instead seemed to select spawning streams through innate attraction to other sensory cues.

Entire Paper
Contact: R.A. Bergstedt, National Biological Service, Great Lakes Science Center, Lake Huron Biological Station, 11188 Ray Road, Millersburg, Michigan 49759
Keywords: Sea_lamprey, Ecological_interactions, 
Product Type: Research, Basic_biology
User Type: General