Alien creature

[Solitario Lupo]

Looks like it was beat up and dying but the ? Is what.

 

[Solitario Lupo]

Eel or lamprey

 

[troutspinner]

I have caught a couple of eels from the Schuylkill, I hate those things! That almost does look like a Lamprey though. ???

 

[truecrimson]

Eel or lamprey or hagfish. Wish we had a better view of the mouth.

Swatara, as in Swatara creek literally means "where we feast on eels" in Susquehannock. Eels go out to the ocean to breed and return to live in fresh water, the opposite of salmon. At least in the Susquehanna River watershed.

 

[Solitario Lupo]

Think it was a lamprey. From other pics plus they don’t get as big as eels. This creek must have them naturally in it as this is like the third or fourth time seeing them swimming in there. I’ve also seen them in another creek in the mountains that I fish. Pretty neat to see them.

 

[Blackcat Outdoors]

Was the mouth circular, or more like a fishes mouth. Lampreys have a circular mouth ringed with teeth.

 

[Solitario Lupo]

Didn’t really get a good look at the mouth. The dots on the side are lamprey and eels don’t have them.

 

[Melvinp]

Found this one on the salmon river zoom in on the mouth

 

[Lund17]

This is lamprey. There are several species of native lamprey in the state in addition to the more well known invasive sea lamprey.

Only a couple of the native lamprey species are parasitic.

 

[Solitario Lupo]

It would be interesting to see which one it is as i see at least one every time I’ve been on Traverse creek.