We are finally back out on the water after long delays from rain, travel, and rain again. This week we went to the Roeliff Jansen Kill to look for lamprey. The Roe-Jan (as it is affectionately known) is a cool water stream on the east shore of the Hudson, an hour south of Albany. It is unusual because it is one of the few cold water streams that enters the Hudson, and supports abundant trout fisheries. When we first arrived it was thundering loudly and rain was coming down. However, when the rain settled down we left the car and found out that the 17-year cicadas were out in force in the forest.
As soon as the rain stopped and the sun peeked through, the cicadas started singing again, LOUDLY. Felt like a late afternoon in August, not a Monday towards the end of June. They are beautifully colored with orange wings and bright red eyes. They were everywhere: flying from tree to tree, littering the ground, and flopping exhausted into the stream. We began our fieldwork shortly thereafter and just before nightfall we found this guy:
A sea lamprey ammocoete! Finally! An ammocoete is the larval stage of a sea lamprey. Like most other fish, lamprey have a larval stage which is quite different from the adult. However, unlike most fish lamprey larvae are the majority of the life cycle of the animal and spend their time buried in sediments in streams. Ammocoetes are often very rare (as any person who has looked for them can tell you) but they can be amazingly abundant (>100 animals per square meter). Although previous work has shown that lamprey are present in the Roe-Jan, this is the first record I know that comes from as far upriver as we found it.
We look forward to finding more lampreys this summer and will be sure to post more pictures as we do.
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