Atlantic Ocean Occurrences of the Sea Lamprey, 



Petromyzon marinus (Petromyzontiformes: 



Petromyzontidae), Parasitizing Sandbar, Carcharhinus 



plumbeus, and Dusky, C. obscurus (Carcharhiniformes: 



Carcharhinidae), Sharks off North and South Carolina 



Christopher Jensen and Frank J. Schwartz 



Institute of Marine Sciences 



University of North Carolina 



Morehead City, North Carolina 28557 



ABSTRACT — Sandbar and dusky sharks captured in 1993 in western 

 Atlantic Ocean waters off North and South Carolina were parasitized 

 by sea lampreys. All lampreys were females ranging from 165 

 to 343 mm total length. Removal of an attached lamprey revealed 

 round, reddish and/or bleeding areas on a shark's body. Blood 

 oozing from a lamprey's cloaca indicated that feeding was occurring 

 or had occurred. 



The anadromous parasitic sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) is 

 widely distributed on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. It occurs off 

 North America from Labrador southward to Florida, and along eastern 

 Europe from Varanger Fjord in Norway to the western Mediterranean 

 (Beamish 1980). Apparently it also formerly occurred in the Gulf of 

 Mexico (Vladykov and Kott 1980, Gilbert and Snelson 1992). Lampreys 

 are known from marine waters to depths of 4,099 m (Haedrich 1977). 

 Dempson and Porter (1993) note other western Atlantic captures of sea 

 lampreys in deep open ocean waters. Excellent reviews of sea lamprey 

 biology can be found in Hardesty and Potter (1971) and in the Proceedings 

 of the Sea Lamprey International Symposium (1980). We add the sea 

 lamprey as an external parasite of sharks and present meristic and morphometric 

 data for specimens captured off North and South Carolina. 



Sea lampreys prey on a variety of fishes in freshwater and marine 

 habitats (Bigelow and Schroeder 1948). Sea lampreys have not been 

 reported from ocean habitats off North Carolina (personal observation) 

 or South Carolina (S. Van Sant, South Carolina Marine Resources Center, 

 personal communication), although lamprey captures are known from 

 inland North Carolina streams and Albemarle Sound (Smith 1907, 

 Menhinick 1991). Schwartz et al. (1982) reported a 140-mm total length 

 (TL), 3.9-g specimen (UNC 8501) entangled in a gill net on the west 

 side (Station 19 west) of the Cape Fear River, 4 km north of Southport, 

 North Carolina, from waters of 10. 2C and 10 ppt salinity on 19 February 

 1974. Whether it was attached to a fish caught in the net was unknown. 



Brimleyana 21:69-72, December 1994 69 



