The sea lamprey, a fish with an eel-like shape and an appetite for blood, is making a comeback in the Great Lakes.
Nicknamed the “vampire fish,” the lamprey has a terrifying circular row of teeth which it uses to latch onto its prey.
They aren’t supposed to be there. Lamprey are native to the Atlantic Ocean but somehow slithered into the Great Lakes, and now they are multiplying. Besides being terrifying, they are devastating the population of native fishes, including lake trout in the upper Great Lakes.
For years, scientists have labored to keep the lamprey population under control — with success — but during the COVID pandemic, those efforts were curtailed and now the vampires are growing in numbers.