By Emily L. Mensch
“They’re strong, they’re fast, and they’re out for blood…..”
From the depths of a murky lake, a slimy eel-like creature emerges, slithering and writhing. With a gaping, circular mouth lined with rows of needle-sharp teeth spiraling inward, it locks in on its target prey: you! Soon this nightmarish creature is slinking up from the lakes, streams, even through drains, and ferociously attacking human populations. No one is safe from the aquatic monster lurking beneath: horrifying and bloodthirsty lamprey.
In case you haven’t guessed, this isn’t real— lampreys pose zero threat to humans. Instead, this is the plot of the 2014 B-rated horror movie Blood Lake: Attack of the Killer Lampreys. While wildly campy and rife with blatant misinformation, the film draws on some truths about these fish and our fears surrounding them. But the real story of lampreys is far more fascinating and complex.
Lampreys are indeed “vampire fish” that feed by attaching to their hosts with a suction-cup mouth, piercing prey’s skin and scales with a sharp rasping tongue, and feeding off their blood. Anticoagulant saliva and buccal muscles allow for simultaneous sucking and breathing, so this blood buffet can last for over a year depending on the species.
And this isn’t the only time lampreys have been portrayed in modern media as monsters of the deep. The 2020 horror movie What Lies Below features a villainous lamprey scientist, and scenes featuring lamprey are built for fear and unease. Even the X-files features a fan-favorite monster of the week called “Flukeman”, a bizarre and murderous human-lamprey mutant.
Brave Wilderness, a popular educational YouTube channel, features videos where the show’s frontrunner, Coyote Peterson, is “BITTEN by a VAMPIRE FISH!” or “EATEN ALIVE by Sea Lamprey!”. Peterson screams and writhes in pain as he’s sucked on by a lamprey, while the fish is actually in a non-feeding part of its lifecycle and unable to spear or suck the blood of its host. But sadly, this information is hidden from the general audience. It’s not hard to imagine that the feigned screams of pain from these “monstrous” fish helped to garner a collective 30 million views.
But lamprey have actually been a part of the cultural, and ecological, zeitgeist for longer than we can remember. Their evolutionary age is approximately 450 million years, placing them as senior to even Saturn’s rings, and one of the oldest extant vertebrates. Consuming lamprey in medieval England was seen as a sign of wealth, and lamprey pie was once a favorite at royal coronations. This tradition was continued in King Charles III’s recent 2023 coronation, although purely decorative due to dwindling lamprey populations in Britain. And in the Klamath basin, Indigenous communities including Yurok and Karuk tribes have used Pacific lamprey for subsistence, medicine, and at ceremonial tables for longer than western records could show.
An estimated eight to ten species of lamprey are native to California (Auringer et al 2023), providing many ecological and cultural benefits. Due to their long evolutionary history, surviving at least four mass extinction events, they are an excellent candidate species to investigate vertebrate evolution. Burrowing larval lamprey filter water and sediment, keeping rivers clean. Spawning lamprey build elaborate nests to keep their gametes safe, serendipitously creating habitat for benthic invertebrates and small drift-feeding fish. And, like salmon, carcasses of anadromous species (such as the Pacific lamprey) shuttle marine nutrients to our freshwater rivers after completing upstream spawning migration.
It is likely that all native species of lamprey in California are in decline, yet a dearth of information on their ecology and population status makes it difficult to know how to conserve them. This is especially true of the small and often forgotten river resident species like the endemic Kern brook lamprey pictured below. Indeed, lampreys are one of the least studied groups of fishes in California. Without these important ecosystem engineers and aquatic health indicators, we could miss processes with big roles in keeping our freshwater systems healthy and full of life. And importantly, population declines of Pacific lamprey threaten Indigenous culture and food sovereignty for tribal communities.
It’s true, lamprey are parasitic fish with faces fit to star in horror movies. But these fish are so much more— providing crucial ecosystem services and cultural value to our coasts, our streams, and our communities. Perhaps more frightening than a cheap jump scare, is a native fish population in decline because of a marred public perception. This happens too often with maligned, “rough” fish that some humans deem unneeding of management and care. But hope exists. Through more robust research and conservation efforts, maybe we can rewrite the lamprey story—one where they aren’t cast as villains, but as vital players in the health of our ecosystems. By deepening our understanding of their role and shifting public perceptions, we can act to ensure that these ancient fishes thrive in our waters for generations to come. After all, real-life monsters may be scarce, but the chance to protect a species—and the balance of life they sustain—is an opportunity worth pursuing.
So this Halloween, why not share some sweet knowledge with your trick-or-treaters about one of California’s most fascinating and undervalued fish species?
Emily L. Mensch is a Ph.D. student (and lamprey enthusiast) in the Graduate Group in Ecology at the University of California, Davis.
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Further reading (and watching)
Blood Lake: Attack of the Killer Lamprey: https://tubitv.com/movies/518232/blood-lake?start=true&tracking=google-feed&utm_source=google-feed
King Charles and lamprey pie: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/02/world/europe/king-charles-lamprey-pie.html
Pacific lamprey conservation initiative: https://www.pacificlamprey.org/
Recent study revealing more robust lamprey diversity in California than previously thought: Auringer, G., Campbell, M.A., Goertler, P.A. and Finger, A.J., 2023. Lampreys in California (Lampetra spp. and Entosphenus spp.): Mitochondrial phylogenetic analysis reveals previously unrecognized lamprey diversity. North American Journal of Fisheries Management, 43(6), pp.1511-1530. https://afspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/nafm.10959
Ancient Neighbors Forecast the Future: Learning from Lampreys about Climate Change:https://medium.com/usfwspacificnw/ancient-neighbors-forecast-the-future-learning-from-lampreys-about-climate-change-7d104d472342#:~:text=At%20every%20life%20stage%2C%20they,the%20ocean%20and%20the%20river
Pacific lamprey conservation: https://baynature.org/2022/04/20/meet-an-ancient-amazing-fish-in-need-of-an-image-makeover/
Demystifying the Pacific Lamprey: https://www.fws.gov/story/2023-10/demystifying-pacific-lamprey
Understanding chemical cues to manage invasive lamprey and conserve native species: Mensch, E.L., Dissanayake, A.A., Nair, M.G. and Wagner, C.M., 2022. Sea lamprey alarm cue comprises water-and chloroform-soluble components. Journal of Chemical Ecology, 48(9), pp.704-717. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10886-022-01384-0
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