THE SEA LAMPREY is a most peculiar fish. It has a slimy, eel-like body and an alien-like mouth, and is a parasite, latching onto other creatures to feed. It first appeared 300 million years ago, making it more ancient than the dinosaurs.
Admittedly, all told, the sea lamprey is not a creature with mass appeal, yet there is something about this bizarre species – one of three lamprey species found in France (see box on p67) – and its extraordinary life-cycle that fascinates me. I’ve always had an insatiable curiosity for the natural world, and even though I work in freshwater management and restoration, I spend most of my spare time travelling around France with my wife, Aurore, in search of emblematic, rare or threatened river species to photograph.
When I chose to focus on the sea lamprey, I got all three. A desire was kindled to uncover the secrets of this enigmatic, watery creature that has survived four major extinction events. But this is not an easy fish to find. The river-dwelling juveniles bury themselves in the sediment, and the adults migrate into the sea, out of sight. Only the months
