The researchers demonstrated that sea lampreys and silver lampreys smell bile salts and acknowledge them as attractants. The difference, however, is sea lampreys become sexually active while silver lampreys do not. Silver lampreys are one of four native lamprey species in Michigan. Knowing that a distinct scent affects an invasive species differently from the native …

The sea lamprey is one of the few ancient, jawless species that has survived through the modern era. Now researchers have decoded its entire genome. “Sea lampreys are amazing survivors,” says Li, whose teammate, Jeramiah Smith of the University of Kentucky, led the analysis of the genome assembly. “Even though they diverged from our lineage …