ANGLING NOTES.

Press, Volume LXVII, Issue 14001, 25 March 1911, Page 7

ANGLING NOTES.

LAMPREYS AND TROUT.

(By "Ibo.v Blue.")

(SPECIALLY WIUTTEN FOB "THE PRESS.")

It is well known that cols are harmful to fisheries, but little thought has been given to the mischief which may possibly bo wrought by the comparatively unnoticed lamprey, who, I find, is an inhabitant of many streams and rivers in Canterbury. The fact of their possessing destructive power is not now, for on referring to tho works of famous naturalists, it will bo seen that Cuvier states: "They attach themselves to large fishes in the same manner— by suction —and in the end pierce through the integuments and prey upon the substance. , ' Yarrell mentions a related sea species, the "hag, ,, ■which has the same unpleasing habit: "It enters the body of a hooked fiah--on a deep sea line—and totally devours the whole except the skin and bones." In more recent times wo.learn that Sir Daniel Gooch caught a big- trout in Lough, Derg, on May 24th, 1907, which was reduced nearly>to a skeleton by a lamprey, who when the pair were landed in tho net was still sticking to a hole that it had made in the side of the trout. The closo attachment of tho family to other fish is thus established, and there is other testimony that I will give later, as a possible cause of tho unaccountable slowness with which the trout have increased in the upper waters of a certain snow river.

As little concerning the lamprey is generally known, it may prove interesting if a few words of description are set down here. They have no proper mouth, !mt instead there is a circular opening, with one or more teeth in the maxillary ring, and they fasten to stones or other substances by suction, which is caused by the tongue working backwards and' forwards liko a piston. Much resembling an eel in shape, they are not slimy as that fish, and are easily handled if anyone is so inclined. For myself, I would as soon handle a black maamba, but that of course is a matter of taste. The lamprey owns a patent breathing apparatus, consisting of seven holes placed on each side of the neck, through which a flow of water ia alternately drawn in and driven out. It has long been believed that tho gills and head are poisonous, but tho reefc of the fish is wholesome. Henry I. died from eating lampreys, so possiily a careless cook gave his majesty some tr*gue or lip or cheek, and the poor king died from the shock to his system. . There are several species belonging to the Petromyzonijdae—thank heaven I seldom have to use a word like that —family, and most or all of them • are minus a swimming bladder, and must raise themselves in the water by muscular exertion alone. Their of ascending swift places is by sticking to a rock, and then quitting it to get another hold a little further upstream, and so on. The largest that I have seen was about two feet in length. They come up some of the English rivers in enormous quantities, nearly the time of the autumn run of salmon, and are captured by means of baskets, at the falls or locks. It is said that they run best after dark, or in coloured water, and on such occasions the baskets must be cleared constantly, and a catch of three thousand has been made in a single night. In former years they were esteemed a delicacy, but how they were prepared I cannot say. A friend once attempted to skin a couple which we caught in a South Canterbury creek, as he would have done an eel, but the skin refused to come apart from the flesh, and we got no further. I have since been told that they a ist be cooked with the ekin still on, but if so, I should imagine that most people would prefer sheep or mutton as before. To go back to the first paragraph, various reasons have been given for the slow increase of trout in the upper Rangitata. . Fishermen say—l believe truly—that the fish are choked by a certain silt brought down at floods; that they are crushed by rolling boulders while seeking shelter; and now suspicion has fallen upon the lamprey as yet another contributory cause. Until recently I was unaware that lampreys lived in . the Rangitata at all, but when I came across four of them in a slackwater of tho main river, that at least was proved. Then a man on the traffic bridge added the information '"there are lots of them things about just now." that several others had been caught, and also ho was of the opinion that they were water snr.kes.

From other sources I learned more. There is a creek near Mount Pool, which is called the Linn or Lynn creek. It joins the Rangitata above Peel Forest, and once upon n time some effort was in ado to straicbtrn it ; : course. I muusfc be a tiny bit vafttie just here for reason-;, thai will seem obvn;'.i>. It is 3or.iciv.-K-; Ijt-ctcr for iul , h> linov,- tii. 4 ".vo:\-,t, and then it may he i;ns.sible u> 'e:;..en an evil in juv ov/n way. Well, trout run up the Lvnn. and after the

alterations it became easy to divert the current for the purpose of seeing how many were there; when, needless to say, they did not stay there any longer. Some lampreys were often found, and in increasing numbers from time to time. On one of the last diversions — handy word that —there were about a dozen, and one was attached to an ill-conditioned trout. That, of course is not unusual with upper Rangitata trout, which are seldom in very firstclass order, but this one was "a state worse than usual": and with still another enemy added to the many foes of its race, it was no wonder either. At any rate, so runs the story.