Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie

Eels

Options
  • 14-09-2008 12:30am
    #1
    TerrorFirmer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 29,930 ✭✭✭✭


    Hi,

    Sorry if this is the wrong place but wasn't really sure where to put it. We were out the last day and found, beside a little stream, what looked like an eel lying on the road....except it looked really weird on a closer look; it had a very distinctive triangular head, and we couldn't see any eyes.....so if anyone had the faintest clue about what it was, it'd be great....can't find anything on google that looks remotely like it?

    thanks


Comments

  • Options
    #2
    brianthebard
    Closed Accounts Posts: 16,165 ✭✭✭✭brianthebard


    Don't suppose you took a pic? could well be an eel that was on its way across country and was a bit dehydrated?


  • Options
    #3
    Popanddrop
    Closed Accounts Posts: 690 ✭✭✭Popanddrop


    eels mouths and face shape can shape over time to adapt to what they regulary eat


  • Options
    #4
    stevecrow74
    Registered Users Posts: 570 ✭✭✭stevecrow74


    could it have been a lampray :eek:


  • Options
    #5
    shoelaceface
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,079 ✭✭✭shoelaceface


    A cross between an elephant and a hammerhead shark i suspect


  • Options
    #6
    Popanddrop
    Closed Accounts Posts: 690 ✭✭✭Popanddrop


    stevecrow74 wrote: »
    could it have been a lampray :eek:
    Possibility, although to make a finally judgement we would need to see a photograph taken by the angler.


  • Advertisement
  • Options
    #7
    mawk
    Registered Users Posts: 2,738 ✭✭✭mawk


    stevecrow74 wrote: »
    could it have been a lampray :eek:


    thats my guess too. they kinda look like eels, OP, but are actually parasites that attach themselves to freshwater stock and suck blood. if you know of a local freshwater club in the area it might be worth mentioning to them. they can be pretty harmful to salmon in numbers


  • Options
    #8
    coolwings
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators Posts: 3,455 Mod ✭✭✭✭coolwings


    Probably a lamprey.
    They share some of the spawning beds that salmon use, esp in the lower sections of a river, but at different times to the winter salmon spawn. This helps keep the gravel clean, and the salmon spawn in those areas is more successful as a result.
    So yes they do eat fish, but fish benefit from their presence.
    Unfortunately lampreys are endangered nowadays due to pollution in rivers lower sections, and man made weirs preventing their upstream migration. They cannot get over a weir as well as salmon do.
    They are ugly "critters". But they belong in the rivers.


  • Options
    #9
    Popanddrop
    Closed Accounts Posts: 690 ✭✭✭Popanddrop


    true very true


  • Options
    #10
    Zzippy
    Registered Users Posts: 14,166 ✭✭✭✭Zzippy


    mawk wrote: »
    thats my guess too. they kinda look like eels, OP, but are actually parasites that attach themselves to freshwater stock and suck blood. if you know of a local freshwater club in the area it might be worth mentioning to them. they can be pretty harmful to salmon in numbers

    There are 3 species in Ireland - the brook, river and sea lamprey. The brook lamprey is not parasitic. The river and sea lampreys both migrate to sea, where they feed on other fish. They do not prey on fish in freshwater - they migrate back to freshwater just to spawn. The impact on salmon in Ireland is negligible.


Advertisement