Sea Lamprey Petromyzon marinus
The Sea Lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) is the largest of Britain’s three lamprey species – an ancient, jawless vertebrate whose adults are parasitic on large fish in marine and estuarine waters, attaching with a sucker-like disc to feed on the blood and fluids of their hosts. It migrates into rivers to spawn in clean, gravel-bedded reaches before dying. Suffolk’s river systems fall within the historical and current range of this species, and records from the county’s main estuaries and rivers are periodically noted. As with other lampreys, river barriers and water-quality deterioration are the principal threats, and fish-pass installation benefits this species. Image: © T. Lawrence, Great Lakes Fishery Commission, Flickr.
Find out more: iNaturalist, Marine Life Information Centre
Suffolk’s Priority Marine Life Species
Key
Listed as a conservation priority in Suffolk’s Biodiversity Action Plan.
Closely associated with Suffolk’s landscape and natural identity.
Identified as a key priority for recovery under Suffolk’s Local Nature Recovery Strategy.
Has a Species of the Month article attached.
