Our Klamath Basin
Water Crisis
Upholding rural Americans' rights to grow food,
own property, and caretake our wildlife and natural resources.
www.heraldandnews.comKlamath River Basin Science ConferenceBut also lurking in waters along the Klamath River Basin is the world’s most diverse population of a lesser-known aquatic species — lampreys. Lampreys are parasitic, aquatic animals that technically aren’t fish, and sometimes are mistakenly classified as eels.
Douglas Markle, a
professor
The Klamath River
population includes the Miller Lake lamprey, which
Markle said is the world’s smallest predatory lamprey.
About 4 to Other Upper Klamath River Basin lampreys include the Klamath and Pit-Klamath brook lamprey. Another species, the Pacific lamprey, is the largest of the Klamath River lampreys. It is found throughout the river basin, especially where the Klamath empties into the Pacific Ocean.Food source Along with being a food source for downstream Indians, the Pacific lampreys were a high-fat food source for seals and sea lions, fish and gulls that otherwise ate salmon.
Lampreys also are
significant, Markle said, because their historic
presence from fossils indicates the Klamath is an
ancient river.
Those changes, Markle said, created opportunities for lampreys to become isolated and evolve into different species. |
Page Updated: Tuesday February 16, 2010 03:27 AM Pacific
Copyright © klamathbasincrisis.org, 2010, All Rights Reserved