(intense electronic music)
- All right. That jumped right out.
That means he is ready.
Good, solid piece of meat here.
There is blood flow.
(Coyote groans)
Oh, okay. It let go.
Ah, no, no!
It went for another bite!
(Coyote screams)
It's really latched on.
(film reeling)
(intense tribal music)
Now, before we sit down and watch the sea lamprey
enjoy an all-you-can-eat Coyote Peterson buffet.
First, it's important for you to understand
how these alien-like invaders managed
to create such a catastrophic stronghold
on The Great Lakes ecosystem.
These parasitic predators
have a rather simple yet well-structured life cycle.
During the spawning phase,
adults leave the lakes and migrate into streams,
build crescent-shaped, rocky nests,
lay eggs,
and then die.
After the eggs hatch,
the larva drift out of the nest
and find areas of soft sediment in the river bottom.
They burrow in
and enjoy a hidden life for several years.
Once ready,
the larva transform into parasites,
complete with suction cup mouths,
hooked teeth,
and a voracious appetite.
Then they swim to the lake
and feast on fish for 12 to 18 months
until they are ready to spawn.
Females can lay nearly 100,000 eggs.
So it's easy to understand how the invasion happened.
Yet within this simple life structure,
there's also a kink in the lampreys invasive armor.
More on that shortly,
as it sounds like the dinner bell is ringing.
Okay, this is part two of our Eaten Alive
by sea lamprey experiment.
And this is what we call inducing a suction.
Now, for this part of the experiment to be effective,
I'm actually gonna bring in the assistance
of Dr. Aldeboa.
He's gonna be the one actually administering the suction
by placing a sea lamprey on three different spots
of my body,
my forearm, my stomach,
and dare I say it, my neck.
Now, to truly determined whether or not sea lamprey
will feast upon the blood of humans,
this is the best way to figure out
whether or not I can become a buffet line.
If you're wondering whether or not I'm nervous.
Yeah, this is the part that definitely has my heart racing
and my adrenaline pumping.
They are gonna suction on.
I am going to feel the wrath of that raspy tongue,
and there very well may be some blood.
So at this point, I think if you guys are ready,
it's time to let the feeding frenzy begin.
Dr. Aldeboa, pick us out a very hungry sea lamprey.
My forearm,
my poor forearm is ready.
- [Mario] Sit back and relax, buddy.
- I almost feel like I'm about to give blood.
And in a sense, I am.
My own blood in the name of science
to determine whether or not these creatures
will feast upon humans.
All right. That one jumped right out.
That means he is ready.
All right, what I'm going to do is place my forearm
out like this.
They are wily.
Okay, now, what's gonna happen is Mario is gonna place it
right on my forearm.
You know, good solid piece of meat here.
There is blood flow.
And that mouth is...
Oh, there we go.
Right there. - Suction.
It is on. - Oh yeah.
Oh, wow.
Wow. That is a powerful suction.
The suction power in the mouth of this creature
is about four times that of your normal home vacuum cleaner.
What it's doing right now is just investigating around
with those jawless lips.
It's called a sectorial disc.
Ooh! He's got a hold there.
Now, the mouth is rather malleable.
And in that mouth or around 150 cone-shaped teeth.
They use those teeth to lock into place.
Now, typically they're feasting upon fish.
When they grab onto that fish,
remember a fish is slimy,
you've got to get good purchase
if you're hoping to hold on.
And then eventually allowing that raspy tongue,
which works almost like a boring drill
to work through the scales and the skin of the fish
before they get down.
Oh, wow. That is a crazy feeling.
Oh, I can feel it definitely grinding away at my skin.
I'm starting to notice a little bit of pain at this point.
Okay, so as they rip through the scales
and the flesh of the fish,
eventually, an anticoagulant that they released
from their saliva allows them to slurp down the blood
and the bodily fluid.
Oh, wow.
I can definitely feel something going to town there.
Similar to the leeches,
I can feel that tongue working around on my skin,
and the suction, my goodness,
I would say that it's more powerful
than four times a vacuum cleaner.
It is pulling my skin up and into its mouth
Yowzers. Okay.
That is an uncomfortable feeling.
Now, the difference between the lamprey and a leech
is that the leech had these little jaws
that were kind of in the shape of the Mercedes-Benz logo,
that would slice into your body.
Of course, that anticoagulant and the numbing agent
didn't allow me to feel anything.
I don't think that there's a numbing agent
that's being involved in the grasp of the lamprey.
Yeah, wow.
It is really (screams)...
It is really, really digging in at this point.
Ooh, yeah.
Something's happening.
(Coyote groans)
Wow. That suction is unreal.
(Coyote giggles)
Yup. Something's happening.
Something is definitely happening.
Oh, it's grasping down tighter.
Now, what's interesting about the teeth.
Ah, okay. It let go.
It let go.
So I want to get a good luck at...
Yowzers.
That, ah man,
that just makes my whole body squirm.
And when that thing pops off,
it's like a really strong suction cup
just coming off of my arm.
Look at the way that the teeth curved into my skin
and suctioned on.
You can see
where those jawless lips were locked in place.
And right there is where all of those teeth were digging in.
You can see the purple coloration in my skin.
And honestly,
just a little bit of blood seeping through
right at that spot.
Now, with my forearm,
I have to think that that skin is pretty tough.
There's a lot of muscle here and it's very solid.
There's not necessarily, you know,
like a fish,
a fish's body has organs and soft spots.
And those lamprey are really gonna try to hone in
on an area that they can easily dig into.
My forearm not exactly giving the best opportunity
to dig in.
I felt the effects,
but I think it's time to step up to the next level.
Allow one of these lamprey adhere to my stomach.
All right, Mario, you ready?
I'm going to lift up my shirt
and expose a nice, soft section
of flesh.
Very soft,
good squishy area. - You ready?
- For one of these to be able to grab on
and create suction.
- Okay. Just let him find his target.
Oh, he's trying to suction onto me.
Hang on.
- Okay. Let him twist his head.
- [Mario] He's good?
- I think he's...
(Coyote screams)
Yeah.
That's pretty good.
Oh!
- He's on. - Oh yeah.
That is definitely a much different feeling
than the forearm.
Now, the skin on my belly is much softer,
and that suction is going to town right now.
I feel all those teeth (screams) digging in.
Oh, the twist is tough.
Now, when these creatures are out in the environment...
Ah! Look at that!
It came off.
(intense electronic music)
Oh!
That's good suction right there.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, I can definitely feel the teeth digging in,
and it almost feels like that tongue
is starting to rasp around.
Oh! That makes your skin crawl.
Okay.
Probably approaching the 60-second mark here
with this creeper,
true creepy slime monster
suctioned on.
Okay. Just embrace it.
Now, it's not so much painful as it is like a pressure,
a real strong suction.
And just that really creepy feeling that,
wow, is this thing actually...
Ooh, ooh, ooh.
I think it let go.
No, no, he just picked a different spot.
Oh, yeah, that's an even better hold right there.
I think you repositioned and said,
"Ooh, you know what?
This spot's even softer,
and maybe even tastier."
The real question is,
will it begin to have a feeding response
and actually try to eat me?
Remember, it's not going after my organs.
It's not trying to burrow inside me.
What they do is remove the skin and the flesh of the fish
so that they can get down to the blood
and the bodily fluids.
Oh, okay. It let go.
- There's a lot of blood there.
Okay.
As I told you guys, there may be blood.
There you have it.
That is a pretty good suction,
teeth grinding the skin,
tongue rasping away,
almost like a razor sharp cheese grater.
And you can see the battle wound there.
Little bit of blood,
not too bad.
It actually feels good to actually have the fish
off of my skin at this point.
Ow.
I think what I learned from that bite
is that it ultimately determined,
once my blood got into its mouth,
that, perhaps,
this isn't a fish,
this isn't something that I'm going to feast upon.
But because they have the nickname vampire fish,
I think we need to go through with the third
and ultimate suction.
We all know that vampire bite onto necks,
which means that our next lamprey is going to take
a good chunk right out of my neck.
Lots of blood flow right there.
Really soft skin.
I know you guys want to see what's gonna happen.
I think I'm ready.
Dr. Aldeboa,
find us an extra hungry sea lamprey.
The buffet line just became an all-you-can-eat buffet line.
Let's place one on my neck.
This is not easy,
not easy to let these things adhere here onto you.
Pick me a real, good, solid, slimy sucker.
- [Mario] All right. A good one.
- Oh!
He looks hungry. - This guy's ready.
Okay, right up here. - Okay, ready?
(Coyote screams)
- [Mario] Hang on to it.
- Okay, I got it. Oh my gosh!
Yeah. that is a good suction right there.
Oh, it let go.
It's looking for another spot.
Oh, that is way more painful than the arm or the stomach!
Ooh!
Ah!
Okay.
- Good? - Yeah.
He's (screams) suctioned on really good.
I can feel that twisting sensation,
teeth grappling into place.
Man, I feel like that's right on,
right on a solid flow of blood right there.
Oh, the vampire fish is truly living up to its name
at this point.
Ah, I'm gonna try to let it suction on
for a full 60 seconds.
(Coyote groans)
Oh wow! Every time he twists this incredibly painful.
Those needle, sharp, cone-shaped teeth digging in.
Close to 150 teeth in that mouth, remember.
Oh, yeah, no,
I can feel the tongue grinding up against my skin.
Oh, that makes my whole body squirm.
Ah, that's incredible.
Ah!
- You're doing good.
- How am I doing? - Just relax.
- Oh, okay,
It let go.
Oh, no, no!
It went for another bite!
Oh, yeah. He's got me good.
You can feel every bit of those teeth
grinding into the skin.
Oh wow.
Yep, the tongue is definitely going to work.
It is just trying to figure out,
is this something that I can eat?
Oh my goodness!
(Coyote groans)
That is about the most uncomfortable feeling
I felt in quite some time.
(Coyote groans)
It's really latched on.
(Coyote screams)
No, no, don't tug at it.
- [Mario] Do you want him off?
- Just let him hang there.
I want to make sure we get to the full 60 seconds.
They don't call these things vampire fish for nothing folks.
Oh, there we go.
(Coyote sighs)
- That's a good one.
Hey, don't get on me.
- [Coyote] Is there blood?
- [Mario] Yep.
- I promised you guys there would be some blood.
A lot of blood flows through your neck.
And that sea lamprey was definitely locked in place.
My goodness.
Oh, man, it makes me lightheaded,
just to think about my blood and bodily fluids
being sucked up by the vampire fish.
Okay.
So here's what I was able to determine at this point.
Those teeth are sharp,
and that raspy tongue, yeah,
it's like a cheese grater going at your skin.
But in the end,
I feel like every time the blood came to the surface
and they got the taste of human in their mouths,
they let go and said, "You know what?
This isn't a fish.
This isn't what I naturally feast upon."
So if you head out into The Great Lakes for a swim,
I would definitely say you have no fear
of being suctioned to,
let alone being eaten alive by sea lamprey.
Now, if you're a fish swimming around out there
in the lakes,
this is, without question, your worst nightmare.
So the ongoing control efforts
to keep the population of sea lamprey in check
are incredibly important.
Without this work being done,
the lamprey will be decimating the fish populations.
But again, like I said, when it to humans,
you're heading out into lake for swim,
you have absolutely nothing to fear.
I'm Coyote Peterson.
Be brave,
stay wild.
We'll see you on the next adventure.
- I got a few more in here that
probably could use a feed.
- [Coyote] I'm probably good.
- Camera guy?
- [Cameraman] Yeah, go ahead.
Bring me one over. - You want one?
- [Coyote] Around the world
invasive species have detrimental effects on ecosystems.
But no species has been more destructive
to Great Lakes fish than sea lamprey.
The fishery in these bodies of water was nearly destroyed.
Yet the ongoing effort to control these invaders
led by The Great Lakes Fishery Commission
has been one of the most successful programs of its type
in history.
So while millions upon millions of eggs are laid each year,
the life cycle's been identified,
and most importantly, intercepted.
Thanks to the combination
of environmentally safe lampricides,
strategic river barriers,
mass trappings,
and pheromone and alarm cue experimentation
that may alter the course of spawning,
the invasive sea lamprey population
has been reduced nearly 90% in The Great Lakes.
Now, that is a success story.
Sea lamprey control is an investment
into the health of the environment.
If you would like to learn more,
or have the desire to join the fight against sea lamprey,
contact The Great Lakes Fishery Commission,
and help keep our freshwater systems
free of blood sucking aliens.
Hey, Coyote Pack.
If you think being eaten live by lamprey was intense,
stay tuned as I set the dinner table
for a tank full of piranha.
And if you can't wait,
join memberships right now
and be the first to see what happens.
Oh boy.