The living habits of lampreys (water vampires)

Lampreys are similar in appearance to snakes and eels. Each side of the head has a row of seven separate gill openings behind the eyes. The gill openings are aligned with the eyes, so they are commonly known as lampreys. There is a funnel-shaped suction cup on the front and ventral surface of the head, which is round when open. There are many soft papillae protrusions on the wrinkled skin around the edge. The mouth is at the bottom of the funnel. There are many yellow horny teeth on both sides of the mouth. There is a fleshy piston-shaped tongue in the mouth, and there are horny teeth on the tongue.

Lampreys are carnivorous fish, and their way of foraging is different from other fish. It uses its sucker-shaped mouth to attach to other fish bodies, and uses the horny teeth on both sides of the sucker's mouth and the horny teeth on its tongue to break the fish body and suck its blood and meat. Sometimes only one pair of fish is left after being sucked. skeleton.

Lamprey is a typical sea and river migratory fish. Its lifespan is 7 years. After living in the river for 4 years, the young fish undergo metamorphosis and go to the sea. After living in the sea for 2 years, they return to the river to spawn and migrate. During migration, they often rely on their sucker-shaped mouths to grab large fish traveling in the same direction as them, and let them carry them forward and suck their blood and meat. At the spawning ground, male and female broodstock work together to dig nests, mate, lay eggs and ejaculate, and bury fertilized eggs. This process is repeated many times until the female fish has discharged all the eggs and the two parent fish leave the nest. Soon, all the parent fish expired and died.

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