Miserable young seal found with a biting lamprey stuck up its nose, NY rescuers say
A harp seal came ashore in New York with a sea lamprey stuck up it nose — a predicament that horrified and perplexed rescuers.
Lamprey are parasites that use a “suction-cup mouth” full of “sharp, horny teeth” to puncture their host’s skin and drain bodily fluids, experts say.
The yearling seal was found March 6 and quickly taken in by the New York Marine Rescue Center in Riverhead, New York according to a March 7 Facebook post.
The exact location was not revealed, but a photo posted on Facebook shows the seal was spotted on the beach with several inches of the lamprey dangling from its nose.
“Our response team immediately brought the seal back to the facility for hospitalization where NYMRC’s veterinary team performed a procedure,” the nonprofit agency wrote on Facebook.
“The lamprey was successfully removed, and the harp seal is breathing easy again!”
The lamprey was about two feet long, based on a photo posted on social media.
“Currently, we are still investigating why this incident occurred and the harp seal involved in the incident is hospitalized,” the agency said. “The harp seal is in stable condition.”
Lamprey, often confused with eels “due to their similar body shapes,” are actually fish with skeletons of cartilage like sharks, according to NOAA’s National Ocean Service.
The “phenomenon” of seals getting creatures stuck up their nose is not new, but it typically involves eels, according to a 2018 report by the Hawaiian Monk Seal Research Program.
“We have no idea why this is suddenly happening,” scientists Charles Littnan told the Washington Post in 2018.
“You see some very strange things if you watch nature long enough, and this could end up being one of these little oddities and mysteries of our careers that 40 years from now, we’ll be retired and still questioning quite how this happened,” Littnan said.
This story was originally published March 15, 2022 at 7:54 AM with the headline "Miserable young seal found with a biting lamprey stuck up its nose, NY rescuers say."