Chris, I love your astute and detailed responses to our native fish
questions! It is very apparent that you don't just "shoot-from-the hip" like
I've so often done, and carefully studied your responses!
The AC, main man, the Bard of NANFA!
bg
----- Original Message -----
From: Christopher Scharpf <ichthos_at_charm.net>
To: <nanfa_at_aquaria.net>
Sent: Tuesday, July 31, 2001 2:08 PM
Subject: Re: NANFA-- lamprey bites
> > Lampreys will attack humans. Here in the great lakes, long distance
> > swimmers are commonly attacked by exotic sea lampreys.
>
> I haven't seen any primary literature on this, but I would say it's unfair
> to characterize such occurrences as "attacks," i.e., actually parasitizing
> on humans. Sea lampreys are known to "bum rides" on boats and big fishes.
> Maybe they're just using a swimmer as a free ride?
>
> In most cases, it's the other way around...man attacking lamprey. The
> lamprey is generally considered too repugnant to be a commercially
important
> fish in America, but Europeans love 'em. King Henry I was a lamprey
> connoisseur who is said to have died from a "surfeit of lampreys." In
> ancient Rome, where cooks fattened up lampreys in special ponds, a friend
of
> Augustus Caesar believed lampreys that fed on humans had a more delicate
> flavor, so he banished disobedient slaves into his pond for lamprey food.
> And in present-day Portugal, lamprey is a culinary delicacy wherein
> restaurants proudly display living lampreys in aquaria, and secret and
> exclusive lamprey dining clubs are formed. A two-year Minnesota Sea Grant
> study to determine the marketability of unwanted Great Lakes sea lamprey
to
> Portugal, where sea lampreys are rare and expensive due to overfishing,
had
> mixed results: while the Great Lakes lamprey had a more desirable texture
> than European populations of the fish, it also had mercury levels that
were
> too high for European Union standards.
>
> Perhaps it should also be stated that in the study of neurobiology,
lampreys
> are useful as experimental animals because of their nerve cells are large
> enough to be seen with the naked eye, and for the ability of their brain
and
> spinal cord to remain alive when cut from the body and placed in a saline
> solution. Researchers in human paralysis are especially interested in the
> sea lamprey, which is the only known vertebrate that can repair its spinal
> cord when it is severed.
>
>
> Chris Scharpf
> Lamprey Anti-Defamation League of North America
>
>
>
/---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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/----------------------------------------------------------------------------- /"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily / reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes / Association" / This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association / nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word / subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to / nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to / nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead. / For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org