Mergansers and Lampreys

    The post that Cheryl has been dreading!

    Mergansers are pretty common in New Hampshire, so I keep forgetting that I should be excited about them. It also means that visitors' curiosity about them far outpaces my own. "What are they eating?" became an almost daily question, and at some point "I don't know" doesn't cut it anymore. I'd overheard someone answer "lampreys or leeches or something" and while leeches seemed probable albeit disgusting (I hate leaches with nearly the same ferocity and terror as I do ticks), lampreys seemed far-fetched. Do we even have those here?

    Yes. Yes we do. The Mergansers are eating lampreys. 




     The day I caught these pictures, I was horrified and excited all at once. LOOK AT THOSE THINGS! It's like something out of a horror film! It looks like a snake with just a circle of teeth instead of a head. Nightmarish. Cheryl was NOT impressed. I tried to show off my discovery to my roomie, but she informed me in no uncertain terms that I was to only show her pictures of cute things, like bears. Fiiiine. We came up with the idea for a fantastic B horror movie plot while discussing them though, so that's something. If only one of us had written it down...

    So what are lampreys? They look like decapitated eels, but they're actually a type of jawless, scale less fish. "Jawless" does not mean "toothless" and my new goal is to get a close up picture of the mouth part. Google it. I'll wait. 

    Some of them are parasitic and bore into the sides of fish, leaving gaping circular holes. I have no idea if the Katmai lampreys are or not. New fun things to study! Maybe next season that's what I should do my evening program about. I know everyone wants to hear about the bears, but there are WEIRD ALIEN NIGHTMARE-FODDER FISH IN THE WATER and the most comical, unintimidating, unassuming bird I've ever seen EATS THEM. I feel like this is something everyone needs to be aware of. 

    I've read that lampreys are delicious. King Henry the First of England was said to have enjoyed them so much that he died as a result of gorging on them in 1135. No one here was keen to try them. What a pity. I think cooking them would be a bit horrifying, but I'd definitely be up for trying. 

Mergansers are a hundred times cooler now.  





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