lamprey

noun

lam·prey ˈlam-prē

-ˌprā

plural lampreys

: any of a family (Petromyzontidae) of eel-shaped freshwater or anadromous jawless fishes that include those cyclostomes having well-developed eyes and a large disk-shaped suctorial mouth armed with horny teeth

called also lamprey eel

Examples of lamprey in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Today, Grand Ronde tribal members have a limited ability to fish for lamprey and salmon at Willamette Falls under agreements with the state of Oregon. —

oregonlive, 9 Aug. 2023 Instead of actual lampreys, whose numbers in Britain have dwindled, the pie was decorated with two pastry lampreys. —

Jenny Gross, New York Times, 2 May 2023 These nutrient-rich fish, a wintertime staple for the Yurok people, lost 400 miles of their historical spawning habitat to four dams that transformed the churning upper reaches of the Klamath River into slack water, threatening the lamprey and other native species. —

oregonlive, 17 June 2023 The city of Gloucester used lampreys in pies for Elizabeth in 2012 and 2015, though the lampreys were imported from Canada, where they were considered pests and a threat to local trout populations. —

Jenny Gross, New York Times, 2 May 2023 If found to be a vertebrate, the Tully monster would fill a gap in evolutionary history, connecting jawless fish (such as lampreys and hagfish) to jawed fish. —

Jamie Dickman, Popular Science, 17 Apr. 2023 And lampreys — the jawless fish that have been around, unchanged, for 360 million years — have round, suction-disk mouths and teeth on their tongues to scrape through skin and access blood. —

Sofia Quaglia, Discover Magazine, 31 May 2023 Paid for with $30 million from the state along with funding from the Yuba Water Agency and due to be completed in 2025, the fishway will also benefit sturgeon, steelhead and lamprey. —

Tara Duggan, San Francisco Chronicle, 16 May 2023 Populations of Chinook salmon, steelhead, and Pacific lamprey are in decline on the river, the organization stated. —

Saleen Martin, USA TODAY, 19 Apr. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'lamprey.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.