California Fish Species

Western Brook Lamprey

• Scientific Name

  Lampetra richardsoni
• Native

  Native Species
• Identification

  

  Western brook lamprey. Location: Prairie Creek, CA. Date: 2011. Photo by Michael Sparkman, California Department of Fish and Game. Scale in mm.

   

  • Small lamprey, may reach 18 cm TL
  • Body segments (myomeres): 52-58 in CA
  • Adult coloration: dark back, white to yellow underside
  • Ammocoetes: pigmented tail, head, and above gill openings
  • Oral disc < 6% of TL
  • Infraoral plate: 6-9 cusps
  • Supraoral plate: 2 cusps
  • Circumoral plates (3 on each side): middle 2-3 cusps
• Life History

  Western brook lampreys are typically found in large coastal rivers and their tributaries. Larval brook lampreys, or ammocoetes, are typically found in slackwater areas or pools where they burrow tail first into soft substrate. Burrowed ammocoetes feed on algae and organic matter passing in the water column. In an optimal habitat of sand and silt the ammocoetes might have a distribution as dense as 170 larval lampreys per square meter. The larval stage lasts 2-4 years in California but may last 4-5 years in British Columbia. Ammocoetes undergo metamorphosis in the fall and the resulting adults are ready to spawn by the following spring. Spawning takes place in riffles in the early spring and may last up to six months depending upon the flow regime of the stream. Adult spawners dig nests 15-20 cm long in a gravel substrate where one female may be surrounded by several males. The female releases 1,100-3,700 eggs, which are quickly fertilized, and then the nest is covered. The eggs hatch in about 10 days.

• Links to Other Research

  N / A
• Watershed

  • Big-Navarro-Garcia Watershed
  • Bodega Bay Watershed
  • Chetco Watershed
  • Cottonwood Headwaters Watershed
  • Coyote Watershed
  • Gualala-Salmon Watershed
  • Honcut Headwaters Watershed
  • Illinois Watershed
  • Lower American Watershed
  • Lower Bear Watershed
  • Lower Butte
  • Lower Cache Watershed
  • Lower Calaveras-Mormon Slough Watershed
  • Lower Cosumnes-Lower Mokelumne Watershed
  • Lower Cottonwood Watershed
  • Lower Eel Watershed
  • Lower Feather Watershed
  • Lower Klamath Watershed
  • Lower Sacramento Watershed
  • Lower Yuba Watershed
  • Mad-Redwood Watershed
  • Mattole Watershed
  • Middle San Joaquin-Lower Chowchilla Watershed
  • Middle San Joaquin-Lower Merced-Lower Stanislaus Watershed
  • Mill-Big Chico Watershed
  • North Fork American Watershed
  • North Fork Feather Watershed
  • Russian Watershed
  • Sacramento-Lower Cow-Lower Clear Watershed
  • Sacramento-Lower Thomes Watershed
  • Sacramento-Stone Corral Watershed
  • Sacramento-Upper Clear Watershed
  • Salmon Watershed
  • San Francisco Bay Watershed
  • San Francisco Coastal South Watershed
  • San Joaquin Delta Watershed
  • San Pablo Bay Watershed
  • Smith Watershed
  • South Fork Eel Watershed
  • Suisun Bay Watershed
  • Tomales-Drake Bays Watershed
  • Upper Bear Watershed
  • Upper Butte
  • Upper Cache Watershed
  • Upper Coon-Upper Auburn Watershed
  • Upper Cosumnes Watershed
  • Upper Cow-Battle Watershed
  • Upper Eel Watershed
  • Upper Elder-Upper Thomes Watershed
  • Upper Putah Watershed
  • Upper Stony Watershed
  • Upper Yuba Watershed