Ecology Summary - Petromyzon marinus

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Main Ref.	Farmer, J.G., 1980
Remarks	Amphihaline species making important migrations. Spends its adult life in the sea for about 20 to 30 months. Adults enter freshwater/estuaries for spawning in spring; after spawning they normally die (Ref. 51442). The larvae are reported to spend 6-8 years in the substrate followed by metamorphosis and movement to sea. They remain in the estuarine/marine environment for a juvenile feeding period lasting 23-28 months, during which they grow from ca. 4 to 900 g; at the end of this period, they move into rivers as adults and reproduce (Ref. 58185). Larvae live in rivers where they feed on microorganisms and detritus (Ref. 30578, Ref. 51442). During juvenile feeding phase, they may not only feed on dead or netted fish, but also attach themselves to healthy fish (e.g. wide variety of bony fishes, sharks and marine mammals) by scraping a hole in their skin and sucking out the blood, body fluids and flesh. Adults are hematophageous predators of fishes (Ref. 51442). The ammocoetes-larvae is microphageous feeding mostly on diatoms (Ref. 51442).

Main Ref.

Farmer, J.G., 1980

Remarks

Amphihaline species making important migrations. Spends its adult life in the sea for about 20 to 30 months. Adults enter freshwater/estuaries for spawning in spring; after spawning they normally die (Ref. 51442). The larvae are reported to spend 6-8 years in the substrate followed by metamorphosis and movement to sea. They remain in the estuarine/marine environment for a juvenile feeding period lasting 23-28 months, during which they grow from ca. 4 to 900 g; at the end of this period, they move into rivers as adults and reproduce (Ref. 58185). Larvae live in rivers where they feed on microorganisms and detritus (Ref. 30578, Ref. 51442). During juvenile feeding phase, they may not only feed on dead or netted fish, but also attach themselves to healthy fish (e.g. wide variety of bony fishes, sharks and marine mammals) by scraping a hole in their skin and sucking out the blood, body fluids and flesh. Adults are hematophageous predators of fishes (Ref. 51442). The ammocoetes-larvae is microphageous feeding mostly on diatoms (Ref. 51442).

Aquatic zones / Water bodies

	Marine - Neritic	Marine - Oceanic	Brackishwater	Freshwater
Marine zones / Brackish and freshwater bodies	supra-littoral zone littoral zone sublittoral zone	epipelagic mesopelagic epipelagic abyssopelagic hadopelagic	estuaries/lagoons/brackish seas mangroves marshes/swamps	rivers/streams lakes/ponds caves exclusively in caves

Highighted items on the list are where Petromyzon marinus may be found.

Habitat

Substrate
Substrate Ref.
Special habitats
Special habitats Ref.

Associations

Ref.	Scott, W.B. and M.G. Scott, 1988
Associations	parasitism;
Associated with	On freshwater fishes Coregonus johannae, C. nigripinnis, C. zenithicus, Oncorhynchus mykiss, Salvelinus namaycush, and on marine fishes Cetorhinus maximus, Acipenser oxyrinchus, Alosa sapidissima,
Association remarks	Parasites of landlocked sea lampreys include: 3 trematodes, 4 cestodes, 1 nematode, 1 acanthocephalan, 1 leech, 1 mollusc and 1 copepod (Ref. 5951). Parasitism on fishes with occurrence of multiple attachments (e.g., 3 on Cetorhinus maximus, 2-3 on Urophycis chuss) (Ref. 89241). Adults are parasitic, using their sharp teeth to attach themselves to cetaceans and large fish and feed off their host’s blood, body fluids and flesh for several days, usually without killing the host (Ref. 59043). An anticoagulant substance prevents the blood of the prey from clotting (Ref. 12324, 35387, 88186).
Parasitism	outside host

Feeding

Feeding type	mainly animals (troph. 2.8 and up)
Feeding type Ref.	Farmer, J.G., 1980
Feeding habit	hunting macrofauna (predator)
Feeding habit Ref.	Farmer, J.G., 1980

Trophic Level(s)

Estimation method	Original sample		Unfished population		Remark
Estimation method	Troph	s.e.	Troph	s.e.	Remark
From diet composition
From individual food items	4.37	0.85			Trophic level estimated from a number of food items using a randomized resampling routine.
Ref.

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