Sea Lamprey Responses to Chemical Alarm Signaling in the Lab and Field: Applications for Invasive Species Management and Selective Fish Passage

The sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) exhibits a spectacular alarm response when exposed to a chemical conspecific cue contained in the skin and other tissues – putatively, an alarm cue. We will present a series of laboratory and field studies that examine modulation of the alarm response due to sex, sexual maturation, habituation, and the presence of contrasting/conflicting chemical information (habitat-specific attractants). We will discuss the behavioral characterizations in light of recent experiments designed to test management applications of the cue as a natural repellent in sea lamprey control in the Great Lakes. Specifically, we will present results from attempts to guide migrating sea lampreys into traps, block migrating sea lampreys from entering rivers, and selectively removing sea lampreys in fishways via passive trap-and-sort designs.