II « History of the sea lamprey in the Great Lakes 



A recapitulation of the distribution of the sea lamprey as 

 einbodied in published reports and summaries of reports (Hubbs and 

 Pope, 1937; Shetter, 19U9) is necessary to provide a background 

 for this papero Additional unpublished records have been added 

 to augment the present knotvn data. 



Prior to November 8, 1921, -vshen an adult specimen was re- 

 covered in Lalce Erie, the sea lamprey had been kno"vm in the Great 

 Lakes basin only from Lake Ontario and its tributaries. In these 

 ■praters it is apparently native and occurs abundantly in a dwarf ed 

 form. Locally it is kno-vm as the "lake lamprey" and is about one 

 half the size of the large sea lamprey of marine habit. These adult 

 "lal^e lampreys" probably do not exceed 1$ inches in total length. 

 Their destmctive attacks upon native food and game fishes were 

 noted at an early date (Gage, 1893, 1928; Surface, 1898, 1399; 

 Huntsman, 1917; Dymond, Hart, and Pritchard, 1929). 



Until recent times, the spread of the sea lamprey into the 

 upper Qreat Lakes was blocked by the Niagara Falls. V It is believed 

 that access was granted the species to the waters above the Falls 

 by the construction of the Welland Canal between Lakes Ontario and 

 Erie. This canal was first opened to shipping in 1829 and was re- 

 constructed into its present system of seven locks in 1932 (Ziramer- 

 mann and Bright, 19U2). It is interesting to note that there is a 

 lapse of 92 years between the opening of the canal and the identi- 

 fication of the first sea lamprey in Lake Erieo The present locks 

 of the Welland Canal are considered inadequate and are the object 

 of current agitation for improvement of the St. Laiivrence Wateiiray, 

 It is a consideration, that further enlargement and improvement of 

 these structures will implement further ingress of sea lampreys 

 from LaJce Ontario into the western Great I^kes, 



>3^Bensley (191^) included Petromyzon marinus provisionally in 

 "Fishes of Georgian Bay" based on reports of fishermen that lampreys 

 15 inches long were sometimes taken on whitefish and trout from 

 deep watero RadXorth (19Ulj.) suggested that these specimens may 

 have found their way into Lake Huron via the Trent T/atenvay but did 

 not think it 3-Lkelyo We must therefore concur -with the opinion of 

 Hubbs and Pope (1937) that this hearsay report was based on a native 

 lamprey ( I chthyoiiyzon sp . ) . 



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