PNNL

Abstract

Actively migrating juvenile Pacific lamprey (Lampetra tridentata Richardson, 1836) were collected from hydroelectric bypass facilities in the Columbia River and transferred to the laboratory to study their diel movement patterns and swimming ability. Volitional movement of lamprey was restricted mainly to night, with 94% of all swimming activity occurring during the 12-hr dark period. Burst speed of juvenile lamprey ranged from 56 to 94 cm/s with a mean of 71 ±5 cm/s or an average speed of 5.2 body lengths (BL)/s. Sustained swim speed for 5-min test intervals ranged from 0 to 46 cm/s with a median of 23 cm/s. Critical swimming speed was 36.0±10.0 cm/s and 2.4±0.6 BL/s. There was no significant relationship between fish length and critical swimming speed. Overall swimming performance of juvenile Pacific lamprey is low compared to that of most anadromous teleosts. Their poor swimming ability provides a challenge during the freshwater migration interval to the Pacific Ocean.