Do you know what this is?

Hi! Do you know what this is?

I’ll give you a hint. It’s not an eel, and I took these pictures at the viewing windows at Bonneville Dam this past weekend. Still don’t know?

Here I am doing some guerrilla aquatic education at the public viewing windows in the dam. And stop looking at my butt. You can take a closer look at what I’m doing, however.

Those are Pacific lamprey! You can learn all about Pacific lamprey by following Luna the Lamprey on Facebook, or do a google search. Their population numbers are dwindling, and they’re an important part of the aquatic ecosystem as well as native American culture. The Fish and Wildlife Service, and our office especially, is going lamprey-crazy right now with a lot of research and outreach efforts. So check them out – they are a very cool fish! And kind of cute in a way.

This is one side of Bonneville Dam – it’s a pretty incredible structure and it supplies much of the Pacific Northwest with power. And this is apparently what a fishery biologist looks like (although it doesn’t much resemble what I look like, even when I’m at work). Ha!