What are Lamprey eels?
I’d heard about them because I’ve read British history, but had no idea what they looked like.
I focused on that word, eel, and imagined a slimy, slow snake-like eel that, for some reason, clogged the streams of Merry Olde England.
They were in such abundance, people just dipped a net, brought them home, dumped them in a pot and, voila! Dinner was served.
(As an eel, of course, you’d need to watch for bones–right?)
Well, after my recent visit to the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture on the University of Washing campus, I’m not so sure.
I’m afraid, you’d be watching out for TEETH!
The horror of lamprey eels
Two of my adult children, scientists both, and I recently visited the museum.
We saw the usual wonderful dinosaurs and many fine exhibits about the Northwest Native American cultures.
Then we turned to aquatic life, and my mouth dropped open in surprise.
“What’s that?” I asked, before peering at the identifying tag.
It didn’t look like an eel to me. Oh, wait, the head was cut off.
They shrugged.
I googled. It was a lamprey!
But they don’t have a head?
“They don’t need a head,” my son laughed. “They’re all teeth.”
I shook my head. I didn’t understand. At all.
Yes, lamprey eels are all teeth, no head.
A . . . face? Head? Row of teeth only a mother lamprey could love?
Wikipedia consoles with the assurance lamprey eels only bite humans when they’re starving.
(But how can you tell?)
They’re only one of two species of “jawless fish” in the world. The other is called a “hagfish.”
The name means “stone sucker” in Latin.
Lamprey eels allegedly have four eyes–but all I saw were the rows of teeth.
They can grow up to six feet long.
Half the species leaves saltwater to migrate up rivers and spawn in fresh water.
It’s during migration that many were caught and eaten during Tudor times.
According to Wikipedia:
During the Middle Ages they were widely eaten by the upper classes throughout Europe, especially during Lent, when eating meat was prohibited, due to their meaty taste and texture.
King Henry I of England is claimed to have been so fond of lamprey eels that he often ate them, late into life and poor health, against the advice of his physician concerning their richness, and is said to have died from eating “a surfeit of lampreys.”
Ogden Nash thoughts
Poet Ogden Nash wrote a short ditty:
“Lampreys are hagfish. In that one word I’ve said it.
I only know one item to their credit.
The early English had good cause to love them:
Wicked King John died from a surfeit of them.
Underwater with Ogden Nash, page 48.
Amusing, but is it true?
Take a look.
Tweetables
What on earth/sea are lamprey eels? Click to Tweet
The oddest looking creature in a natural history museum! Click to Tweet
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