Crews with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will conduct surveys in the Detroit River next month to get an estimate on sea lampreys in the river.
It's the first step in the continuing battle against the lampreys, which invaded the Great Lakes in the 1920s and have been a destructive element in the lakes and waterways ever since.
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, sea lampreys destroy up to 40 pounds of fish during their parasitic phase, and they attach to fish with a suction cup mouth, raps a hole through its skin and feed on blood and body fluids.
The information taken during the survey will be used to determine how much sea lamprey control is needed.
According to the USFWS, lamprey larvae hatch from eggs laid in gravel nests and drift into silty bottom areas where they burrow and live for several years. Failure to detect and eliminate larvae allow the lampreys to transform into parasitic adults and kill Great Lakes fish.
