The transnational Fisheries Commission of the Great Lakes has been raising awareness of a fish that has been sucking blood and destroying ecosystems for decades. The sea urchin, a snake-like fish that has more than 100 teeth and a suction cup that it uses to lock and penetrate the scales of other fish. According to Fisheries and Oceans Canada, each bulb can kill up to 20 pounds of fish in 12 to 18 months, and only 1 in seven fish survives its attacks. “They can do incredible damage,” Marc Gaden of the Lakes Commission told CTV’s Your Morning on Monday. “There are a lot of juicy fish in the Great Lakes who like to eat these shines and since there is nothing to keep them under control, this is the perfect storm of invasion,” he said. Sea urchins reached North America via shipping channels in the Atlantic Ocean more than a century ago, causing severe damage in the 1950s and early 1960s that led to the collapse of the Great Lakes fishery and almost destroyed the ecosystem. The invasion of the sea urchins caused a 98 percent reduction in the lake trout at that time, leading to the creation of the Lakes Fisheries Commission. Commercial, recreational and tribal fishing in the Great Lakes has created a total of more than 75,000 jobs in an industry worth US $ 7 billion a year, according to the Lakes Fisheries Commission. While people do not have to worry about being attacked by one of these bloodstains, Gaden says it is important to recognize the damage they can do to ecosystems. “People need to know that catastrophic invasions have caused incredible damage to fisheries. “It’s like a coiled spring and if you let go of control, they will bounce back,” Gaden said. The female sea bulb can lay from 50,000 to 100,000 eggs. When the eggs become larvae, they will eat anything that lurks in their path for three to four years until they become a mature predator with serrated teeth. Fortunately, Gaden says methods have been developed to destroy this invasive species, which has resulted in a 95 percent reduction in the Great Lakes population. The two most effective ways to control these pests include building dams to prevent the species from reproducing and using pesticides. Lamprikons are chemicals that are discarded in the pond to attack directly on the sea urchin at the larval stage. In its 2017 budget, the Canadian government outlined $ 8.7 million to control the light bulb and fund research to better understand them.
