Parques de Portugal

<p> <em>Petromyzon marinus</em> Linnaeus, 1758</p>

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  • Sea lamprey

  • Petromyzon marinus Linnaeus, 1758

  • Petromyzontidae

  • The sea lamprey is an anadromous migrating fish with a smooth white and grey skin. It has a long and oval body and a big circular mouth with several rows of teeth. It can grow to be 1.2 m long and can weigh 2.3 kg. 

  • Vale do Guadiana Nature Park

  • Alentejo

  • Vulnerable

  • The sea lamprey lives at sea migrating to rivers with clean and oxygenated rivers, with weak currents and rocky riverbed, to reproduce, dying after laying. The larvae remain buried in the sandy riverbed for five years, migrating to the sea after the metamorphosis. This fish, that has high commercial value and is explored intensively on rivers and estuaries.

  • Spring

  • The sea lamprey has an hematophagous diet at sea, being parasitic to fish, but, when it returns to the rivers, it stops feeding. The larvae are filter feeders.

  • The Portuguese population of this species is estimated to be between 60 thousand and 280 thousand individuals.