Lamprey eel bite

[Steve01987]

Wondering what everyone thinks of this wound I found on a pickerel I caught last year. Is it from a lamprey eel? Just curious because it was a perfect circular sunken/hollow wound.

[Steve01987]

Ugh, terrible quality pic sorry guys, wound is on the tail fin, but anyways was JW if anyone's seen a lamprey eel in NH, or better yet caught a fish with one of those bloodsuckers attached to it.

[Gunflint]

I know it is hard to believe but I was in an expensive French restaurant in Europe and they had Lamprey on the menu as one of the most expensive meals. They wreaked havoc on Lake Superior trout but I never heard of anybody eating them.

[JoeGG]

Loon did that

[Coffin Dodger]

Plenty of Lampreys in SE NH rivers, anyway.
We have a river named after them!

Never seen Lamprey wounds in NH's big lakes, but it's not uncommon to reel in fish with Lampreys attached, on Champ or Lake O.
Juvenile Lampreys start out in the rivers.

[Steve01987]

It was a pretty nasty looking bite. And i thought for sure it was a lamprey bite because I couldn't have carved such a perfect hole into that fish if I tried.

[bootstrap]

shot with air gun. hope you ate it.

[Hottuna5150]

2 summers ago a buddy and I caught a number of perch with strange sores similar to the one on your pickerel. My first thought was the same as yours... lamprey? The body of water I was on didn’t/doesn’t have them as far as I know. This past summer my buddy pulls one in and asks “can fish get ticks? There’s a little critter moving around on this fish.” After looking at it and doing a bit of research it turns out to be a fish louse, a small parasitic crustacean.

[jethro]

I know it is hard to believe but I was in an expensive French restaurant in Europe and they had Lamprey on the menu as one of the most expensive meals. They wreaked havoc on Lake Superior trout but I never heard of anybody eating them.

Lamprey were treasured table fare back in the day. As said by CD above, in NH we have a river named after them, they were considered the absolute most desirable freshwater fish to eat. Ironically, lobsters were considered only good for bait or feeding prisoners. Maine actually has an old law that is still on the books that says it's illegal to force inmates to eat more than 2 lobster meals a day. I want to eat a lamprey! I'll bet it's delicious.

[bootstrap]

come here in the spring when they are in the rivers take all you want.

[zwiggles]

come here in the spring when they are in the rivers take all you want.

I don’t know if they are legal to harvest, but I can put you on a spot which will make your skin crawl when you see them. Thousands and thousands and thousands of them mass up below dams in sea coast NH and “crawl” up the damns.

I know it freaked me out as a kid....

[Gunflint]

Here is what the French think about Sea Lamprey, and the French understand a thing or two about good food.




Here is a great review of the meal:

https://thatbestbite.com/2017/06/26/lamprey-a-la-bordelaise-at-brasserie-le-noailles/

Here is the recipe:

http://www.foodarts.com/recipes/recipes/31114/lamprey-la-bordelaise

[Theshad]

There's a lot here. They suck right on to truck windows if you toss em' there...lol

[Seamonkey84]

At least hagfish don’t come up river. Now those are disgusting.

[Gunflint]

At least hagfish don’t come up river. Now those are disgusting.

That is exactly what the Smithsonian says. I also found that the only people even attempting to eat them is the Koreans, and even they gave it a very low rating.

14 Fun Facts About Hagfish | Science | Smithsonian
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science.../14-fun-facts-about-hagfish-77165589/

Oct 17, 2012 - Hagfish are widely considered the most disgusting animals in the ocean, if not on earth.

[stinkyfingers]

Lamprey were treasured table fare back in the day. As said by CD above, in NH we have a river named after them, they were considered the absolute most desirable freshwater fish to eat. Ironically, lobsters were considered only good for bait or feeding prisoners. Maine actually has an old law that is still on the books that says it's illegal to force inmates to eat more than 2 lobster meals a day. I want to eat a lamprey! I'll bet it's delicious.

The doctor is quite correct here. In Imperial Rome, lamprey were consisdered an uncommon delicacy, especially their fry. There's an untapped market there for some enterprising

fisherman to supply fresh lamprey to some local gourmet restaurants. Wouldn't have a clue how to prepare them up for the table.

[Coffin Dodger]

Lamprey were treasured table fare back in the day. As said by CD above, in NH we have a river named after them, they were considered the absolute most desirable freshwater fish to eat. Ironically, lobsters were considered only good for bait or feeding prisoners. Maine actually has an old law that is still on the books that says it's illegal to force inmates to eat more than 2 lobster meals a day. I want to eat a lamprey! I'll bet it's delicious.

X 2, except for the eating lamprey part (for me).
For years (maybe still?) Lampreys were gigged through the ice and served to large crowds at a winter festival in Exeter, NH.
FWIW, I'm told smoked eels are a delicacy......

[Seamonkey84]

Eels go for huge money, here in Maine there’s a huge business around selling live elvers (baby eels) to the Asian farms that raise them up for food. We’re talking over $2K a pound for the little 3” noodles.

[stinkyfingers]

 
FWIW, I'm told smoked eels are a delicacy......

I lived in Denmark for several years and was brought into contact with smoked eel on a regular basis. It's considered a special treat and commanded high prices in the market. Those weren't lampreys but a larger cousin maybe 18' long. Oily, fishy and when alive slimier than a northern. Wish we had some out here. Eels, not lampreys.

[zwiggles]

I lived in Denmark for several years and was brought into contact with smoked eel on a regular basis. It's considered a special treat and commanded high prices in the market. Those weren't lampreys but a larger cousin maybe 18' long. Oily, fishy and when alive slimier than a northern. Wish we had some out here. Eels, not lampreys.

We do have the American eel in waters which reach the sea:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_eel

[swnoel]

Fish ulcer.
https://huntfish.mdc.mo.gov/fishing/fish-diseases/fish-ulcers

[bootstrap]

Here is what the French think about Sea Lamprey, and the French understand a thing or two about good food.




Here is a great review of the meal:

https://thatbestbite.com/2017/06/26/lamprey-a-la-bordelaise-at-brasserie-le-noailles/

Here is the recipe:

http://www.foodarts.com/recipes/recipes/31114/lamprey-la-bordelaise

ssave the blood for the sauce. i was interested until i read that. must be an easier way to cook or smoke it. iv had smoked eel before and liked it.

[Stickhick86]

http://blog.syracuse.com/outdoors/2013/04/post_45.html