70 Christopher Jensen and Frank J. Schwartz 



Previous sea lamprey-shark parasitism records 



We know of two verified records of sea lamprey-shark parasitism. 

 One involves a female sea lamprey and a basking shark (Cetorhinus 

 maximus), specimen 965-2-3-1, of the Nova Scotia Museum (Bigelow 

 and Schroeder 1948). The lamprey was 290-mm TL when preserved in 

 formalin. The 7.6-m-long basking shark, caught 29 June 1965 in a gill 

 net off Hopson Island (near Prospect), Halifax County, Canada, was 

 alive when the lamprey was removed. Attachment was just above and 

 anterior to the base of the anal fin, although sea lampreys often attach 

 to pectoral fins and along the dorsal and body sides (Cochran 1985, 

 1986). The second was a record of two adult lampreys, 180- and 250- 

 mm TL (USNM 130791) taken from an unknown species of shark 

 captured 3 June 1885 off Cape Charles, Virginia, at Albatross Station 

 2422 at 37°08'30"N, 74°33'30"W (Jenkins and Burkhead 1993). 



Recent sea lamprey-shark parasitism records 



South Carolina — We captured a female sea lamprey (UNC 17398), 

 168-mm TL, 8.8 g, on 6 February 1993 while longlining 69 km off South 

 Carolina in 31.1 m of water. Set location began at 33°10.9'N, 78°17.45 , W 

 and ended at 33°00'N, 78°24.08'W. It was still attached to a 1280-mm 

 fork length (FL), male sandbar shark (Carcharhinus plumbeus) along the 

 shark's right lateral flank midway between the rear tips of the pelvic and 

 dorsal fins on the gray portion of the skin. Removal of the lamprey 

 revealed a round reddish area on the side of the body, which indicates 

 that it had been attached for some time before the shark's capture. Blood 

 oozed freely from the female lamprey's cloacal opening. 



North Carolina — We know of five recent occurrences (March 1993) 

 of female sea lampreys parasitizing sharks captured from two different 

 locations off North Carolina; the host in one case was a 3-m-FL dusky 

 shark {Carcharhinus obscurus), the others three 3-m-FL sandbar sharks 

 (C. plumbeus). A dusky shark and one sandbar shark, captured by 

 fishermen longlining 74-km east-southeast off Masonboro, North Carolina, 

 carried one feeding lamprey attached near the cloaca of each shark. 

 But the lampreys were not retained by the fishermen who captured the 

 sharks. 



Three additional female sea lampreys (UNC 17403, Table 1) 

 165-, 178-, and 343-mm TL, weighing 6.4, 9.5, and 70.7 g, respectively, 

 were captured 23 March 1993 during nightime longlining sets 46.2 km 

 east of Cape Lookout in 31-36-m waters. All three specimens parasitized 

 3-m-TL female dusky sharks, one was attached to a pelvic fin, the 

 others to the white skin of the cloacal area. No masses were taken of 

 any shark at sea. Body proportions of the North Carolina preserved sea 



