Sea Lamprey Parasitism 71 



Table 1. Meristic and morphometric data for sea lampreys captured parasitizing 

 dusky and sandbar sharks caught off South Carolina (UNC 17398) and 

 North Carolina (17403), 1993. Lengths are expressed as a percentage of 

 the total length. 







Female 



Sea Lampreys 





Lengths 













(% total length) 



UNC 17398 1 





UNC 17402 





Predorsal 



14.9 





15.3 



15.2 



13.1 



Branchial 



10.8 





8.7 



8.8 



8.7 



Disc 



9.0 





9.3 



9.3 



8.5 



Eye 



3.3 





3.0 



2.2 



2.3 



Trunk 



45.1 





46.1 



49.7 



53.6 



Tail 



29.1 





29.8 



26.2 



24.5 



Myomere 



68 





66 



67 



3 



Total Length (mm) 



168 





165 



178 



343 



'Host female sandbar shark. 



2 Hosts all female dusky sharks. 



3 Dark adult body coloration prevented accurate myomere count. 



lampreys (Table 1) were larger than those reported for a 136-mm-TL 

 specimen from Florida (Vladykov and Kott 1980). 



Conclusions 



Sea lamprey-shark parasitism occurrences are rarely reported because 

 fishermen or scientists often think that a reddened bleeding area on the 

 body is simply a bruise rather than a wound caused by a lamprey. 

 Likewise, a lamprey might have fallen off once a shark was landed, 

 making the association of the injury with a lamprey difficult. Information 

 on sea lampreys from sharks caught at sea may shed more information 

 on their occurrence, seasonality, water depth frequented, host preferences, 

 and biology of sea lampreys than is presently known. Lamprey parasitism 

 may be more damaging to marine fishes than now suspected. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS— We thank owner Mike Merritt, Captain 

 Jimmy Murry, Captain Richard West, Chuck Wagner, and Steve Francis 

 of the Reel Action II for taking part in the longlining operation and sea 

 lamprey association information. S. Van Sant and others of the South 

 Carolina Marine Resources Center, Charleston, South Carolina, commented 

 on the absence of South Carolina lamprey records. J. Gilhen of the 

 Nova Scotia Museum, Halifax, and W. B. Scott, Huntsman Marine 

 Science Center, St. Andrews, New Brunswich, Canada, supplied informa- 

 tion on the Canadian sea lamprey-basking shark record. R. Jenkins, 



