January 10, 2019

Did the Sea Lamprey Cause a Decline in the Trout Population

The Sea Lamprey caused a decline in the trout population. According to the sea lamprey and trout population graph, in the 1960s the Sea Lamprey population increased to 270,000 at the same time the trout’s population declined to only 10,000. This evidence shows that in that time period the sea lampreys started eating a lot more trout, which means that there weren’t as many trout to reproduce with, which means that the trout population declined. And if there are less trout that means that Ciscos, Lake Whitefish, Round Whitefish and more will be affected by this, because they get eaten by trout, and if they get eaten less that means that there will be more of them and more demand for food, so the organisms that they eat populations will decline. So it not only affects Trout but it messes with the whole food web.

According to reading 7, the female Sea Lamprey can lay 60,000 to 100,000 eggs. This means that there is more sea lamprey to eat trout. It’s like a cycle. A Female Sea lamprey gets born, it looks for food, and it does this for some time, then they find a mate, have babies, then die and the cycle starts over again. This means for the Trout that they are going to be outnumbered by thousands upon thousands of Sea Lamprey, and the more Sea Lamprey is in the lakes, the more Trout get eaten every single day, and the more Trout get eaten the more the trout population declines and the more it affects fisherman, the   and many more.

According to reading 7, the sea lamprey has a circle shaped mouth and very sharp teeth. They can also live in saltwater or freshwater. So it comes through rivers and becomes the new predator for trout, Lake whitefish, ciscoes and many more. In reading 7 it says that It uses its circle shaped mouth and sharp teeth to cut into the scales of the trout and sucks their bodily fluids out. The Sea Lamprey has seven openings for its gills so it doesn’t have to swim to breath. So what it does is surround its prey, Attach itself to the fish, chew through the scales, feeds on its bodily fluids, and eventually, the fish will die or the Lamprey will get full and detach itself of the fish. That’s why the trout population is at an all-time low because the Sea Lamprey come into the lakes by rivers and uses its sharp teeth to cut into the scales of the trout and sucks their bodily fluids out and the trout eventually die.