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Name : Pacific lamprey ( Entosphenus tridentatus )
Where it lives : Freshwater and marine ecosystem in the North Pacific , from California to Alaska , and across the Bering Sea to Russia and Japan
Instead of a jaw, lampreys have a sucker mouth that they use to latch onto prey.
What it consume : The blood and consistence fluids of other fish , let in Pacific salmon , flatfish , rockfish and Pacific hake
Why it ’s awful : Lampreys belong to to a chemical group of ancient , jawless Pisces that evolve over 450 million year ago during the Ordovician period ( 485 million to 444 million years ago ) . There areroughly 40 living species of lampreysdotted across the world . These eel - corresponding creatures were darting up and down streams long before dinosaurs and even Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree existed , and have survived at least fourmass extinctions .
Related : Barreleye Pisces : The bass - ocean nutcase with rotating eyes and a see - through head
Pacific lampreys are boneless fish , and their frame are made entirely of gristle . rather of a jaw , they have a sucker mouth rimmed with dentition , which they use to latch onto prey and extract pedigree and body fluid . As far as scientists can assure , lamper eel do not eat up flesh .
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female person lay up to 200,000 eggs in nest that they incubate in fresh water for three to four weeks . Once the larvae hatch , they burrow into the deposit and stay buried for up to a tenner . They emerge as juveniles and migrate downstream to the ocean to give , only returning to freshwater habitats several years later to reproduce . Adults , which raise up to 33 inches ( 84 centimetre ) long , can travel one C of miles inland in hunt of the perfect spawning and bring up fleck .
peaceable lamper eel are very worthy prey for many mintage of birds , mammal and Pisces the Fishes due to their extremely fat flesh , which turn back three to five times as many calories by weight as salmon . As such , they play an of import role in freshwater and marine ecosystems .
