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Story: Marine animals without backbones

Swimming lamprey

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Swimming lamprey

Lampreys may look like eels, but they lack a true backbone – although they do have a gelatinous rod of tissue running down their backs. They can grow to 50–60 centimetres in length. After spending time at sea, lampreys return to fresh water. There, they do not eat again, spending some 15 months hiding in river margins before breeding and dying.

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Department of Conservation

Reference: 10049717

by Stephen Moore

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How to cite this page

Dennis Gordon and Maggy Wassilieff, Marine animals without backbones – Lancelets, lampreys and hagfish, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/5874/swimming-lamprey (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Dennis Gordon and Maggy Wassilieff, published 2 March 2009.