BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary
Lampetra richardsoni
Western Brook Lamprey
| Scientific Name: | Lampetra richardsoni Vladykov and Follett, 1965 | ||||||||||
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| English Name: | Western Brook Lamprey | ||||||||||
| Classification / Taxonomy | |||||||||||
| Scientific Name - Concept Reference: | Page, L. M., H. Espinosa-Pérez, L. T. Findley, C. R. Gilbert, R. N. Lea, N. E. Mandrak, R. L. Mayden, and J. S. Nelson. 2013. Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Seventh edition. American Fisheries Society, Special Publication 34, Bethesda, Maryland. | ||||||||||
| Classification Level: | Species | ||||||||||
| Species Group: | Vertebrate Animal | ||||||||||
| Species Code: | F-LARC | ||||||||||
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| Conservation Status / Legal Designation | |||||||||||
| Global Status: | G4G5 (Feb 2012) | ||||||||||
| Provincial Status: | S4 (Aug 2025) | ||||||||||
| BC List: | Yellow | ||||||||||
| Provincial FRPA list: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Wildlife Act: | |||||||||||
| COSEWIC Status: | |||||||||||
| SARA Schedule: | |||||||||||
| General Status Canada: | 4 - Secure (2005) | ||||||||||
| Ecology & Life History | |||||||||||
| General Description: | |||||||||||
| Global Reproduction Comments: | Spawns day or night, late April to July. Females 4.4 to 7.7 inches long produce 1,100 to 3,700 eggs (Wydoski and Whitney 1979). Eggs hatch in about 10 days at temperatures of 50-60 F. Ammocoete stage lasts up to 6 years. Metamorphosis August-November. The preceding information pertains to northern populations; little is known about California populations formerly known as L. pacifica. | ||||||||||
| Global Ecology Comments: | Spawning success and survival apparently are high, as ammocoetes of this species are said to be one of the most abundant forms of life in the lower courses of streams in the northwestern United States (Scott and Crossman 1973). | ||||||||||
| Migration Characteristics: (Global / Provincial) | |||||||||||
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Nonmigrant: Local Migrant: Distant Migrant: Within Borders Migrant: |
Y / N / N / na / |
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| Habitats: (Type / Subtype / Dependence) |
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| Global Habitat Comments: | Habitat includes gravel riffles and runs of clear, cool streams (Page and Burr 2011). Ammocoetes are found in eddies of streams where rich deposits of silt, mixed with some sand, settle. Adults usually taken over gravel riffles while spawning (Lee et al. 1980). In California, this species occurs in low elevation portions of streams and rivers; probably it is restricted to the less disturbed portions of streams (Moyle 1976). Spawning occurs in riffles on rock, sand, or gravel stream bottoms. Lampreys spawn in a shallow depressions at the heads riffles (Wydoski and Whitney 1979). | ||||||||||
| Food Habits: |
Herbivore: Adult, Immature
Invertivore: Adult, Immature |
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| Global Food Habits Comments: | Ammocoetes are filter feeders; feed on microscopic plant and animal matter, including desmids, diatoms, algae and detritus (Scott and Crossman 1973). Adults do not feed. | ||||||||||
| Global Phenology: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Phenology: (1st half of month/ 2nd half of month) |
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| Colonial Breeder: | N | ||||||||||
| Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): | 15/ / | ||||||||||
| Elevation (m) (min / max): |
Global:
Provincial: |
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| Distribution | |||||||||||
| Endemic: | N | ||||||||||
| Global Range Comment: | Range includes streams of the North American Pacific coast from Taku River, southern Alaska, to central California, including Vancouver Island, with major inland distributions in the Columbia and Sacramento-San Joaquin drainages (Vladykov and Follett 1965, Moyle 2002, Wydoski and Whitney 2003, Page and Burr 2011). In Washington, this species occurs in coastal and Puget Sound streams and as far inland as the upper reaches of the Yakima River; recorded in streams on the west and south sides of the Olympic Peninsula but not on the north or east sides (Wydoski and Whitney 2003). This lamprey is relatively common in forested coastal basins, such as the Alsea River, Oregon. In California, western brook lampreys have been recorded mainly from the Sacramento River drainage, including areas as remote as Kelsey Creek above Clear Lake (Lake County), but they are also present above Pillbury Reservoir in the Eel River and in Mark West Creek, a tributary of the Russian River; spawning adults were collected in the Navarro River (Mendocino County) in 1999 (Moyle 2002). Ammocoetes from an extirpated population in the Los Angeles River basin may represent this species (Moyle 2002). Western brook lamprey is easily overlooked and difficult to collect, it is likely that this species occurs in many streams in coastal California (Moyle 2002). Populations in the Columbia River basin, Oregon are reassigned to L. pacifica (Reid et al. 2011). |
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| Authors / Contributors | |||||||||||
| Global Information Author: | Hammerson, G. | ||||||||||
| Last Updated: | Feb 22, 2012 | ||||||||||
| Provincial Information Author: | |||||||||||
| Last Updated: | |||||||||||
| References and Related Literature | |||||||||||
B.C. Ministry of Environment. Recovery Planning in BC. B.C. Minist. Environ. Victoria, BC. |
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Hardisty, M. W. and I. C. Potter, eds. 1971. The Biology of Lampreys. Academic Press, London and New York. pp. 1-65. |
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Kan, T. T. 1975. Systematics, variation, distribution and biology of lampreys of the genus Lampetra in Oregon. Ph.D. dissertation, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon |
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Lee, D. S., C. R. Gilbert, C. H. Hocutt, R. E. Jenkins, D. E. McAllister, and J. R. Stauffer, Jr. 1980. Atlas of North American freshwater fishes. North Carolina State Museum of Natural History, Raleigh, North Carolina. i-x + 854 pp. |
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Moyle, P. B. 1976a. Inland fishes of California. University of California Press, Berkeley, California. 405 pp. |
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Page, L. M., and B. M. Burr. 1991. A field guide to freshwater fishes: North America north of Mexico. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts. 432 pp. |
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Robins, C.R., R.M. Bailey, C.E. Bond, J.R. Brooker, E.A. Lachner, R.N. Lea, and W.B. Scott. 1991. Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States and Canada. American Fisheries Society, Special Publication 20. 183 pp. |
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Scott, W. B., and E. J. Crossman. 1973. Freshwater fishes of Canada. Fisheries Research Board of Canada, Bulletin 184. 966 pp. |
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Wydoski, R. S., and R. R. Whitney. 1979. Inland fishes of Washington. The University of Washington Press, Seattle. 220 pp. |
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Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.
Suggested Citation:
B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 2012. Species Summary: Lampetra richardsoni. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Dec 29, 2025).