Encountering a lamprey on a smallmouth bass seems to violate everything that is good in the world.
A lamprey is a parasitic fish that looks like a cross between an eel and a leech. I have seen a few in Arkansas, and all were on the Caddo. The latest was three weeks ago, attached to a smallmouth caught by Rusty Pruitt of Bryant. My son Matthew has twice seen lampreys attached to suckers in the Buffalo River. Maurice Gilmore of Little Rock sent a photo of one he removed from a trout on the North Fork of the White River.
Ben Batten, a fisheries biologist with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, is the program coordinator for the AGFC’s family and community fishing program. He said four species of lampreys live in Arkansas.
The species that Pruitt and Gilmore caught is the chestnut lamprey. It is the only one that is parasitic, and only in its adult phase. It grows to 8-14 inches. Batten said the largest ever taken in Arkansas was 12 inches.
The chestnut lamprey is a primitive, simple fish, Batten said. He described it as nothing more than a mouth, a set of rudimentary eyes and a straight digestive system.
At the head of its straight, very slimy body is a disc shaped mouth that points downward. Teeth line the inside of the mouth in a circular pattern. Coloration ranges from brown to olive green.
You’d think something this repulsive would live in dirty, stagnant water, but Batten said the chestnut lamprey inhabits clear tributaries of large rivers like the Arkansas, White, Ouachita, Illinois, Petit Jean and Little rivers.
They hatch in the spring and burrow into sediment, where they stay for up to three years. During this larval stage, Batten said the lamprey looks similar to an adult, except without teeth and eyes. They filter food from the water.
They mature in autumn and emerge from the muck. They attach to a host, such as bass, with its teeth. They also secrete a thick mucous layer that seals the vacuum and appears to act as an adhesive. It creates a wound on the host and sucks its blood. Batten said it might also consume a small amount of flesh. It leaves its host in the spring, spawns and dies.
Batten said lampreys do not kill the host. Its only function seems to be to reproduce at the expense of other fish. It does not seem to fill any other role in the environment.
“Lampreys are just not something a fisheries biologist is interested in from day to day,” Batten said. “They’re not something we fool with a whole lot. Most parasites don’t have a major role in an ecosystem. They could drop out and it wouldn’t make much difference.”
Speaking of leeches, we have them in Arkansas, too. I’ve only seen them in the Buffalo, where one actually attached to me once.
It was not pleasant.
BIG BASS BONANZA
Bass anglers will have a chance to win up to $50,000 Friday through Sunday during the Big Bass Bonanza, the nation’s largest amateur fishing tournament.
The tournament will take place on the entire length of the Arkansas River within Arkansas’ state boundaries.
The angler who catches the biggest bass of the tournament will win $50,000 after passing a polygraph test.
Anglers catching the biggest bass in the other four pools will each win $10,000. The runner-up in each pool will win $900, and the third place winner will win $700. Fourth place will win $400.
Cash prizes also will be awarded hourly to the biggest bass weighed in during hourly periods throughout the tournament.
The Arkansas River will be divided into five pools. Anglers may fish all pools, but they must weigh in fish in the pool where they caught the fish. Anglers cannot weigh in a bass less than 16 inches long.
Rules and more information on how to enter is available online at arkansasbigbass.com.
TROUT SEMINAR
An intermediate trout fishing seminar sponsored by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and the Corps of Engineers will be held from 10 a.m. to noon July 13 at the William Carl Garner Visitor Center at Greers Ferry Lake.
The visitor center is north of Heber Springs on Arkansas 25. Admission is free. More information is available by calling (501) 362-9067.
Sports, Pages 21 on 06/27/2013