Sea Lamprey

Found mostly in the Northern Islands, the Sea Lamprey is known among Yudonians for being a typical plate from the region. Since 1933, the number of caught Lampreys in the archipelago had increased dramatically, until a point when almost every fish had more than one on its body, as President Luca Svaik announced a new law which promoted its selling price. It was a strategy for making the plague disappear, and it worked! In less than 4 years the plague was going away.

As its price started to go up, more and more fishers started to search them until a point when it became a national fish and plate, being present in a lot of todays Yudonian plates.

Habitat and Trade

The species is sometimes considerate to be an invasor, as some countries consider this animal a plague; however in Yudonia it is not only considerate to be a delicious plate, but a gift.

Sometimes, there are not enough Lampreys to sell in the country, as hundreds of tons need to be imported from countries like Iceland, United States or Norway for almost no money.

Basic Information

Anatomy

The sea lamprey has an eel-like body without paired fins. Its mouth is jawless, round and sucker-like, and as wide or wider than the head; sharp teeth are arranged in many consecutive circular rows. There are 7 branchial openings behind the eye. They are olive or brown-yellow on the dorsal and lateral part of the body, with some black marblings, with lighter coloration on the belly. Adults can reach a length of up to 120 cm (47 in).

Dietary Needs and Habits

Even though it might seem cute from above, this animals have a very unique way of eating, as they mostly eat blood and live meat. Sometimes, these animals join forces in groups of five or more individuals and all attack the same prey, attaching themselves into the exterior of the animal, and killing it while eating its meat.

This animal is truly a beast, sometimes even killing huge sharks by groups of 20 lampreys and eating all of its flesh until almost nothing is left from it. There have been some occasions, when they have attacked humans. Though it is very rare as they prefer deep waters for hunting, when they attack something, they want to extract food from it, and so 7 people have been found death without limbs and body pieces in some beaches on the very northern islands. These beaches closed, but there are rumors of more people been found death in recent years with lamprey signs on them.