CLEANING-UP the rivers, though a very good thing indeed, has brought its problems—allowing the return of migrating blood sucking sea lampreys.
These have been spotted in great numbers in both the navigable Trent and River Great Ouse, with swimmers warned of the voracity of the creatures, that latch on to the skin and suck blood, Alan Tilbury tells us.
Killing fish
They are also causing concern to anglers, as the eel-like creatures latch on to fish and suck out their blood, effectively killing them.
They have not been seen in these waters for years, but now they have been cleaned of debris and pollution, they are once more proving attractive to the sea lambreys that are able to survive in either sea or fresh water.
Re-colonising rivers
There have now been many alarming sightings of them, re-colonising the rivers, as this is the time of year they travel up the rivers to spawn, laying thousands of eggs.
The creature is long and black with a gigantic sucker with rows of sharp teeth on one end, that latches on to human skin or a fish, or anything containing blood, and are well known as 'vampire fish'.