The book provides the most comprehensive review of lamprey biology since Hardisty and Potter’s five-volume “The Biology of Lampreys” published more than 30 years ago. Published in two volumes, it includes contributions from international lamprey experts, reviewing and providing new insights into the evolution, general biology, and management of lampreys worldwide. This first volume offers up-to-date chapters on the systematics, general biology, conservation status, and conservation needs of lampreys. It will serve as an important reference for researchers working on any aspect of lamprey biology and fishery managers whose mandate is to control or conserve lamprey populations.

This book, published in two volumes, provides the most comprehensive review of lamprey biology since Hardisty and Potter’s “The Biology of Lampreys” published more than 30 years ago. This second volume offers a synthesis of topics related to the lamprey gonad (e.g., lamprey sex ratios, sex determination and sex differentiation, sexual maturation, and sex steroids), the artifical propagation of lampreys, post-metamorphic feeding and the evolution of alternative feeding and migratory types, the history and status of sea lamprey control in the Laurentian Great Lakes and Lake Champlain, and an overview of contributions of lamprey developmental studies for understanding vertebrate evolution.

Most of the experimental lampreys were mature and rip after 14 to 18 months of parasitic life. They exhibited signs of irreversible physical degeneration which precedes death. Three specimens were immature at 14, 18, and 26 months in aquariums, thus indicating that under certain conditions, lampreys may extend their parasitic phase.

The stuff of nightmares in both their looks and the wounds inflicted on their victims, sea lampreys (Petromyzon marinus) are perhaps the deadliest invasive species to ever enter the Great Lakes. At the invasion’s apex in the mid-20th century, harvests of lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush), the lampreys’ preferred host fish in the Great Lakes, plummeted from peak annual catches of 15 million pounds to just a few hundred thousand pounds per year—a drop of 98% in only a few decades. Threatening the complete collapse of the fishery, the sea lamprey invasion triggered an environmental awakening in the region and prompted an international treaty that secured unprecedented cooperation across political boundaries to protect the Great Lakes. Fueled by a pioneering scientific spirit, the war on Great Lakes sea lampreys led to discoveries that are the backbone of the program that eventually brought the creature under control and still protects the largest freshwater ecosystem in the world to this day. Great Lakes Sea Lamprey draws on extensive interviews with individuals who experienced the invasion firsthand as well as a trove of unexplored archival materials to tell the incredible story of sea lamprey in the Great Lakes—what started the invasion, how it was halted, and what this history can teach us about the response to biological invaders in the present and future. Richly illustrated with color and black & white photographs, the book will interest readers concerned with the health of the Great Lakes, the history of the conservation movement, and the ongoing threat of invasive species.