Sea lamprey found washed up on Texel beach

Ecomare animal caretaker Jarco Havermans made quite the discovery on Texel beach this week. He found an 83 centimeters long dead sea lamprey washed ashore. Sea lampreys are elongated fish with a very - unique - appearance.

Havemans described the animal as “a very strange fish.” It's a parasitic species that separated from the rest of the vertebrates a long time ago. They occurred as far back as the Silurian, over 400 million years ago, before there were even fish with jaws.

“The sea lamprey also has no lower jaw. It has a disc-like mouth full of teeth,” Havemans told NH Nieuws. They use that striking mouth to attack other sea creatures and suck their blood out. Small animals usually don’t survive the bite of a sea lamprey.

Sea lampreys are relatively rare in the Netherlands and are mainly found in the spring when they migrate from the sea to freshwater to spawn, Ecomare said. Ecomare already has a sea lamprey in its collection but will keep this find for other museums.