12 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



of Maine; perhaps it is not absent there from 

 any considerable area of smooth bottom. Thus, 

 it is abundant off the north end cf Grand Manan; 

 is reported from Passaamquoddy Bay and from 

 various localities near Eastport; is to be found 

 off-shore on muddy bottom all along the Maine 

 coast; and is caught at times in considerable 

 numbers on the Boon Island-Isles of Shoals 

 fishing grounds and about Jeffreys Ledge, where 

 we found it plentiful enough in the spring of 191.3 

 to have gutted 3 to 5 percent of all the haddock 

 in the gill nets. Fishermen report it as equally 

 numerous in the deeper parts of Massachusetts 

 Bay. On the offshore banks the hag is well known, 

 and it has been trawled at various localities 

 along the outer edge of the Continental Shelf off 

 New England at depths of from 100 to 200 

 fathoms, and deeper. We ourselves took 11 

 large ones in one set of a Monaco deep-sea trap 

 in 260 fathoms off Nantucket on July 9, 1908, 

 and it has been taken in from 300 to 500 fathoms 

 off Marthas Vineyard; as deep as 524 fathoms on 

 the southeast slope of Georges Bank. 



Sea lamprey Petromyzon marinus Linnaeus 1758 



Lamprey; Spotted lamprey; Lamper; Eel- 

 sucker 

 Bigelow and Schroeder, 1948, p. 46. 



Description. — Lampreys are eel-like in ap- 

 pearance, but have a soft, cartilaginous skeleton. 

 They lack paired fins but have well developed 



dorsal and ventral finfolds. In the adult the 

 jaws are so rudimentary that apparently they 

 are wanting; the mouth is a longitudinal slit 

 when closed, but forms an elliptical disk at the 

 tip of the snout wben open, and is armed with 

 many horny, hooked teeth arranged in numerous 

 (11 to 12) rows, the innermost the largest. There 

 are two dorsal finfolds, and there are seven open 

 gill slits on each side, whereas the hag has only 

 one gill pore on each side, and only one fin. The 

 sea lamprey (the only member of its group known 

 from our salt waters) can hardly be mistaken 

 for any other fish, its eel-like appearance coupled 

 with two dorsal fins and the jawless mouth 

 placing it at a glance. 



Color. — Small specimens (whether on their 

 way downstream or in salt water) are white below 

 and uniformly colored above, usually described 

 as blackish blue, or as lead colored, and more 

 or less silvery. But large specimens usually are 

 olive brown above, or of varying shades of yellow- 

 brown, green, red, or blue, mottled with a darker 

 shade of the same color, or sometimes nearly 

 black if the dark patches are confluent. The 

 lower surface is whitish, gray, or of a pale shade 

 of the same hue as the ground color of the back. 

 During breeding season, the landlocked form 

 takes on more brilliant hues, with the ground tint 

 turning bright yellow. 



Size. — The length at the time of transformation 

 from the larval stage is about 4 to 8 inches (100- 

 200 mm.). Sexually mature individuals, taken 



■?£+ **l 3& #"f >nyW? 4>'ii•*'I♦** , ^ , 



Figure 3. — Sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus), about 18 inches long, Merriraac River; and open mouth disc of another 

 Merrimac River specimen to show the arrangement of the horny teeth, about 0.9 times natural size. From Bigelow 

 and Schroeder. Drawings by E. N. Fischer. 



