United States Department of the Interior 

 Oscar L. Chapman, Secretary- 

 Fish and Wildlife Service 

 Albert M. Day, Director 



Special Scientific Report - Fisheries 



No. 55 

 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SEA LAMPREY, 

 Petromyzon marinus , IN MICHIGAI"! 1/ 



Vernon C. Applegate 

 Fishery Research Biologist 



CONTENTS 



Page 



I. Introduction 1 



II. History of the sea lamorey in the Great Lakes. o..... ..o „.,.,, . 2 



III. The inventory of sea lamprey spa'/ming streams. ....... ., 7 



Results of the inventory 8 



Establishment in inland lakes 13 



Effect of obstructions and barriers to migration l5 



IV. Sea lamprey spawning runs ..e.«.»...,.«o»»ooe. ....... 17 



Carp Creek investigation ,.,.,.,o,....o. 20 



(1) Carp Creek. .<,...,..,, 20 



(2) The Carp Creek sea lamprey weir. ,.„o, ..(>.»,«. 21 



(3) Collection of data o.o...e.<, 26 



Ocqueoc River investigations ..*.. a o. o.o 27 



(1) The Ocqueoc River 27 



(2) The Ocqueoc Rivei' sea lamprey weir, . . .. . o . . .. . . o . . . 28 



(3) Methods, places and times of sampling, and 

 collection of other data in 19U7 and 19U8. ........ «. 31 



(1;) Collection of data in 19U9 .0.0..0 .• » 33 



Sea Lamprey spawning runs per se ...........oo*. 3U 



(1) Time limits and general character of the runs,...*. 3U 



(2) Factors affecting the runs o. . . . . . . hh 



(3) Time of migration during the day.,., .oo..., hi 



Other species of fish taken in the weirs U9 



( 1) Kinds and numbers • . . . . • U9 



(2) Times of migration.,,,,,,,,, ,..<,,..,.,., o.,. . U9 



(3) Species and numbers bearing lamprey scars. ,... o, .. . 50 

 (ii) Occurrence of lamprey-scarred sea lampreys.,.,.,... 5l 



"17 Contribution from the Institute for Fisheries Research of the 

 Mchigan Department of Conservation. 



