You may not have seen them before, but somewhere in California, an eel-like creature colloquially referred to as the “vampire fish” is returning to the American River.
This fish with a sucker-like jawless mouth and curved, sharp teeth is known as the sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus).
According to Sacramento CBS reports, multiple divers have spotted the animal in California.
Both sightings reportedly occurred in the American River, a waterway that runs for 30 miles near Sacramento.
Karl Bly who has explored the American River for 40 years, most recently with a GoPro, taking videos along the way told the outlet what a vampire fish looks like. “It looks like some sea creature from the deep,” said Bly.
Bly filmed one of the encounters with the lamprey and posted the footage to the American River Lost and Found page, which he runs.
He wrote, “Videoed the second Lamprey of the Season and the second one I’ve seen in 30 years.... just a peaceful swim.”
“I’ve captured sea lions, river otters, crawdads, and lots of crazy things,” he said.
Bly told reporters that he hasn’t seen a full-grown lamprey in the American River in decades. He did say that he’s had sporadic sightings of babies, but nothing has come close to the 24-inch-long lamprey he recently spotted.
But Bly says the vampire fish tops his list of strange sightings.
“They would be high up there as a rare fish,” he said.
Despite the mystery, the vampire fish calls California waterways home.
An official of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife Peter Tira said: “It is native to California and to the American River.”
Speaking further, Tira explains that Pacific lampreys are born in freshwater, migrate to the ocean and then come back here to have their young – up to 100,000 of them at once.
“In the ocean, they will attach themselves to a dolphin or shark or whale and suck on that larger host fish to feed off the nutrients,” Tira said.
Despite its frightening nickname and appearance, lampreys don't hurt humans. “They are not harmful at all to people,” Tira said.
And even though they don’t look pretty, river visitors say they make the area unique. “It’s great that we have so many fish and wildlife and it hasn’t been ruined and I’d prefer to keep it that way,” said Micah Remy, who lives in Sacramento.
Fish and Wildlife says the Pacific lamprey did disappear for a bit out of the river and are now making a comeback, but there’s nothing to indicate why.
However, a Facebook post by Vermont Fish & Wildlife has given a clue on their disappearance. According to the post, sea lamprey first burrow under riverbed sediment and filter feed on detritus - which more or less means decomposed matter -- before making their way to the ocean and living parasitically on other organisms as juveniles.
Toward the end of their lives, the blood suckers return to freshwater to spawn and then die soon after, the post said.
Although they then survive on the blood of their hosts, sea lampreys are not known for attacking humans and should be left alone, Vermont Fish & Wildlife said
People coming across native sea lamprey in freshwater do not have to worry about being attacked, as they are not parasitic when spawning, the post said.
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