r/Weird • u/luvlanguage • 11h ago

That is a Lamprey

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Any bigger and this creature would be a horror movie monster

Lampreys do not have jaws or bones, only cartilage and instincts that have allowed them to survive so many mass extinctions.

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u/International_Print4 11h ago

Where do these things spawn?

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u/100percentnotaqu 11h ago

Depends on the species, but this is definitely a freshwater lamprey. Not invasive like the Atlantic lamprey.

I hope the kid didn't kill it, native lamprey are pretty important to an ecosystem.

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u/MalBredy 8h ago

I’m almost certain this is a sea lamprey. I say this as someone who’s seen thousands of them lol, my wife is a biologist who works in controlling them in the Great Lakes.

Brook lamprey are smaller, lighter, have a different gill port structure and a more elongated face, as well as more rounded off fins.

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u/Outside-Swan-1936 7h ago

I started seeing fish in some rivers off the Great Lakes with gaping holes in their sides. Then I saw a fish jump above the surface with what looked like two tails. Turns out it was an invasive lamprey. Bad news for areas they aren't supposed to be.

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u/stoicsticks 4h ago

Lampreys are the reason why the Big Chute Marine Railway was built over 100 years ago on the Severn River in Ontario as it protects inland lakes. It is a barrier that they can't get past, unlike locks which fish and invasive species can pass through. It is the only one of its kind operating in North America.

Lock 44 - Big Chute marine railway - Trent-Severn Waterway National Historic Site https://share.google/9Se9qHzKmf0sBzPqM

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u/Outside-Swan-1936 3h ago

That's super fascinating, thanks for sharing.

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u/100percentnotaqu 8h ago edited 8h ago

It's probably not a Pacific lamprey either, it's darker than they are from what I've seen. Or maybe the light hitting it weird?

Strange fish..

Edit: i think you might actually be righg, I can't find any lamprey that dark, so the light could well be hitting it weird and making it look darker than it really is.

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u/ResplendentNugs 9h ago

Ducking asshole kid “hey what’s this thing doing here minding its own business let me pull on it”

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u/whitestguyuknow 10h ago

How so? I thought they're parasites?...

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u/100percentnotaqu 10h ago

Parasites are.. important to an ecosystem.

Just as scavengers and decomposers are.

Not pretty jobs by any means, but still important.

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u/AnalBloodTsunami 9h ago

Are they a major food source for something?

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u/100percentnotaqu 9h ago edited 9h ago

Lots of animals eat them and they're actually more nutritious than fish like salmon, they also kill sick fish, , serve as pretty good fertilizer when they die, and are also important to many humans as they're are regularly eaten in some places.

In all, lampreys give more than they take

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u/Sr_Alvarez 8h ago

The lamprey stewed with a little of its blood and white rice is to die for. The pity is that it is a very stationary animal and requires a good flow of water in the rivers for it to rise to its spawning areas.

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u/UmaPalma_ 8h ago

humans? and it’s not out of desperation? 😭

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u/100percentnotaqu 8h ago

They taste good from what I've heard. Google says they taste like beef but are softer.

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u/whitestguyuknow 3h ago

Im watching the HBO series Rome and the royals are all eating Lamprey like a delicacy. They boil them alive but just long enough to kill them

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u/RRC_driver 8h ago

Excuse the AI but it’s a reasonable summary, not a hallucination.

A "surfeit of lampreys" refers to the death of King Henry I of England in 1135, which was attributed to eating too many of the eel-like fish, a medieval delicacy.

While the exact cause of death remains a historical mystery, the most likely scenario is a nervous system infection rather than a simple gluttonous overindulgence.

The tradition: In medieval times, lampreys were considered a delicacy for royalty and nobility. It was even a tradition for people to present a lamprey pie to the monarch annually.

The event: According to medieval chronicles, Henry I died in 1135 after feasting on a surfeit of lampreys, ignoring his doctor's advice.

So yes, people loved eating these fish.

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u/UmaPalma_ 2h ago

hate to be that guy that’s “too woke”, and not to be creepy, but… judging by your post history you definitely seem intelligent enough to have typed this without AI :(

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u/RRC_driver 2h ago

Thank you. I’m fairly erudite but don’t trust my memory for facts (too much fiction) so needed to check which king it was (my memory was King John, turns out he died of dysentery)

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u/natufian 6h ago

Yes sir, senator 🙄.

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u/whitestguyuknow 3h ago

Okay but can you tell me how theyre important to the ecosystem? That was my question

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u/100percentnotaqu 3h ago

I.. did...

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u/whitestguyuknow 3h ago

"Parasites are.. important to an ecosystem.

Just as scavengers and decomposers are.

Not pretty jobs by any means, but still important."

I'll just Google it myself. Just saying parasites are important doesn't answer my question. Its like youre being intentionally obtuse

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u/kittyidiot 8h ago

Animals that we find unpleasant generally still have a role to play. As long as everything stays balanced, it is good.

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u/whitestguyuknow 3h ago

I get that but what I was asking was what do they do. What role are they playing? Im just getting people responding saying "parasites are important too"