- Are they hungry? They definitely look hungry. So if you guys are ready, I'm Coyote Peterson, and I'm about to enter the bite zone with the sea lamprey. Here we go. Okay, it let go. Oh, no, no, it's still
going for another bite, it's going for another bite. (tape rolls) (upbeat music) (suspenseful ominous music) The Great Lakes have been invaded, and their fish are facing
an inescapable attack that threatens to decimate
their populations. Like aliens in a Hollywood horror film, these slime covered parasitic predators have squirmed their way in, and are on the hunt for blood. My mission is to find out whether or not these invaders
have a taste for humans, and the only way to find out
is to let myself be eaten alive by sea lamprey. To perform this nightmare
of an experiment, I have traveled to Millersburg, Michigan where I will be working in conjunction with the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, and US geological surveys jointly managed, Hammond Bay Biological Station. These organizations are in the forefront of Great Lakes research. Control of invasive species and restoration of native fish. The Great Lakes are home to
five different lamprey species; four native and one invasive. And as my luck would have
it you can clearly see that this invader is also the biggest. Sea lamprey originally
entered the Great Lakes from the Atlantic ocean through a series of man-made shipping
canals in the mid 1800s. Taking advantage of these
human constructed waterways, they eventually invaded all
five of the Great lakes. Without any predators or
population control at the time sea lamprey numbers exploded. And by the early 1960s, the
fishing industry was devastated. Taking the yearly Great Lakes
harvest from 15 million pounds of fish to a mere 300,000 pounds of fish. This is a perfect example
of how destructive and invasive species can be. And while it's clear that
they are a threat to fish, do they pose a threat to humans? It's a beautiful sunny morning, and it feels like the perfect day for an eaten alive episode here on the "Brave Wilderness" channel. Now before me is a 50
gallon aquarium filled with close to 100 sea lamprey. I know what you guys are all thinking. "Coyote, hold on, hold on a second. Are you telling me you're
going to place your arms into this aquarium with these fish that will suction on to you, maybe shred your skin, and then drink your
blood and bodily fluids?" Yeah, guys that's exactly
what we want to try to figure out today. Now what exactly is a sea lamprey? Is it an eel? Is it a fish? Is it an alien? Well, I can tell you this much. They're certainly alien looking, but no they are not aliens. And while their body structure
may really make them look like eels, they're not eels either. They are in fact fish, a primitive species of fish. The lineage of these creatures
dates back 340 million years which means that they were here before the time of dinosaurs, and they survived beyond the dinosaurs. In fact, they've survived
four extinction events. How crazy is that? Now what makes them a primitive fish? That's a great question. They're not like other fishes. They don't have any bones in their body, but in fact, their structure
is made out of cartilage. They don't have a swim bladder. They don't have any pairs of fins, and they don't even have proper jaws. They're considered parasitic predators. I may say perfectly designed
parasitic predators, and they're primarily feast upon fish. And the thing that's most unique about these primitive creatures is in fact their mouth structure. So let's crouch down here for a second, and get down beneath the water surface and take a closer look. You'll see the way that they
are suctioning to the glass. One of the most unique
aspects is what's known as the sectorial disk. They don't actually have
jaws like I stated earlier, but they have the ability to
suction onto different things. Glass is a perfect surface. They can also hold onto rocks, but when they're searching for their prey which of course is fish, they're capable of suctioning on, and then let me paint you
a really horrific story. This is almost like a Hollywood B film. When they suction onto
the side of the fish, their mouth is malleable, and within that malleable mouth they have close to 150
cone-shaped, needle, sharp teeth. Those teeth anchor into place, and then right in the
center of their mouth is this razor sharp rasping tongue. They rubbed that tongue over the scales, through them into the skin, and eventually into the fish's flesh where they then drink the
blood and the bodily fluids. If you're a fish swimming
around the Great Lakes and you get hooked up to with the lamprey you were alive when they begin to eat you. So you know, gotta have
a little bit of respect for these primitive creatures. These perfectly designed
parasitic predators had taken a massive toll on
the native fish species. In fact, during the lifetime
of an individual lamprey they can kill up to 40 pounds of fish. For every seven fish
attacked by sea lamprey only a single one manages to survive. Their top sense is their
ability to smell their prey. They don't have really great eyesight. In fact, they're usually
most active at night, but when I place my arms
down into the water, they're definitely gonna
smell any scent coming off of my flesh. That's fair to say that I'm not a fish, but I'm certainly full of
nice warm, delicious blood. Are they hungry? They definitely look hungry. So if you guys are ready, I'm Coyote Peterson, and I'm about to enter the
bite zone with the sea lamprey. Here we go. One. Two. This is it. Three. Ooh, that water is cold. Oh, oh, oh, one just
rubbed right up against me. Oh boy, they are slimy. Now what I'm gonna try
to do is keep my hands and arms in there (screams). Ooh, they're squirming
around while they are slimy. I'm gonna try to keep my arms in here for at least a minute and 30 seconds. Ooh, they're going right towards my arms. Man, this brings some
flashbacks of the leeches. When I did eaten alive by leeches, they swim around my arms, brushing up against them just like this. Eventually found me, suctioned on, and induced the bite. Now they're swimming back and forth. They definitely detect that I'm here. Ooh, that is a very, very eerie feeling. Slimy bodies rubbing up against me. I don't even wanna look down. Right now I'm just thinking
about those sectorial disks lashing out to my arms. Those teeth grappling in, and then that raspy tongue
cutting into my skin. But this far they're really
just swimming around me. It's interesting because
the warm blood in my body, I feel like would definitely
be able to be detected. Then again, you have
to think about the fact that fish are cold blooded, so maybe warm blood is not something that they would necessarily be after. All right, we're gonna up
the ante on me being bitten. I'm gonna actually push my
arms into the piles of lamprey. (tense music) Wow, that's crazy. That is a real strange feeling. All that slime. Oh, wow. Man, I feel like I've got
my arms into the mouth of an alien right now. All slippery and slimy. I'm actually just moving my
fingers around on the lamprey, and they're just swimming
right through my fingers. There's the opportunity for
them to feast right here. Come on guys. I'm good. I'm telling you, this is good blood right here. Aren't you interested? This is the Coyote Peterson buffet line. Wow, at this point, my hands have been in here
for close to two minutes. Absolutely no bite. I'm actually grabbing piles of lamprey and coupling them together, and all they're doing is
swimming with slimy effort. Now, these fish are surrounded
in all sorts of rumors. When you're out there
swimming in the Great Lakes, I know a lot of people
have heard the rumor that possibly these things will latch on, inflict a suction, bite, and then suck out your insides. Based on putting my
arms into this aquarium, I don't think that's gonna happen guys. Unless you are a native
fish species swimming around you have absolutely nothing to fear, at least in my opinion at this
point from the sea lamprey. So I've got two theories
as to why the lamprey have not turned me into a buffet line. The first is that these guys have an incredible sense of smell. Remember, they're pretty
much swimming noses. Coyote Peterson, doesn't
smell like a fish. My second theory is that
they primarily feast upon things that have cold blood. I have warm blood, so maybe it's possible that lamprey aren't interested in having a
warm blooded meal at all. However, I think to really
push this experiment to the next level, we're gonna need to induce a suction. What I wanna do is take a
lamprey adhere one to my arm, one to my stomach, and one to my neck. If that doesn't give them the opportunity to feast upon human blood. I don't know what will. Stay tuned, guys. I have a good feeling that
part two to this experiment is going to be wildly entertaining. (suspenseful music) Now, before we sit down
and watch the sea lamprey enjoy an all you can eat
Coyote Peterson buffet. First, it's important
for you to understand how these alien-like invaders managed to create such a catastrophic stronghold on the Great Lakes ecosystem. These parasitic predators
have a rather simple yet well-structured life cycle. During the spawning phase, adults leave the lakes
and migrate into streams. Build crescent, shaped,
rocky nests, lay eggs, and then die. After the eggs hatch, the larva drift out of the nest, and find areas of soft
sediment in the river bottom. They burrow in, and enjoy a hidden life for several years. Once ready the larva
transform into parasitics, complete with suction
cup mouths, hook teeth, and voracious appetite. Then they swim to the
lake and feast on fish for 12 to 18 months until
they are ready to spawn. Females can lay nearly 100,000 eggs, so it's easy to understand
how the invasion happened. Yet within this simple life structure, there's also a kink in the
lampreys invasive armor. More on that shortly as it sounds like the dinner bell is ringing. Okay, this is part two of our eaten alive by sea lamprey experiment, and this is what we
call inducing a suction. Now for this% part of the
experiment to be effective I'm actually gonna bring in the assistance of Dr. Alderboa. He's gonna be the one to actually
administering the suction by placing a sea lamprey
on three different spots of my body; my forearm, my stomach, and dare I say it, my neck. Now to truly determine whether
or not sea lamprey will feast upon the blood of humans. This is the best way to
figure out whether or not I can become a buffet line. If you're wondering
whether or not I'm nervous. Yeah, this is the part that
definitely has my heart racing, and my adrenaline pumping. They are gonna suction on. I am going to feel the
wrath of that raspy tongue, and they're very well may be some blood. So this point, I think
if you guys are ready, it's time to let the feeding frenzy begin, Dr. Alderboa, pick us out
a very hungry sea lamprey. My forearm, my poor forearm is ready. - Sit back and relax, buddy. - (exhales) I almost feel
like I'm about to give blood, and in a sense, I am. My own blood in the name
of science to determine whether or not these creatures
will feast upon humans. All right, that one jumped right out, that means he is ready. - Okay, I'm ready.
- All right, what I'm gonna do is place
my form out like this. - Stay.
- They are wildly. Okay, now what's going to happen
is Mario is gonna place it right on my forearm. You know, good solid piece of meat here. There is blood flow, and that mouth is, oh, there we go, right there.
- Suction. - Ooh!
- It is on. - Oh yeah, aah! Oh wow, wow, that is a powerful suction. The suction power in the
mouth of this creature is about four times that of
your normal home vacuum cleaner. What it's doing right now
is just investigating around with those jawless lips, and it's called a sectorial disc. He's got a hold there. Now the mouth is rather malleable, and in that mouth are around
150 cone-shaped teeth. They use those teeth to lock into place. Now, typically they're feasting upon fish. When they grab onto that fish, remember, a fish is slimy, you've got to get good purchase if you're hoping to hold on, and then eventually
allowing that raspy tongue which works almost like
a boring drill to work through the scales and
the skin of the fish before they get down. Oh wow, that is a crazy feeling. Oh, I can feel it definitely
grinding away at my skin. Oh, I'm starting to notice a little bit of pain up at this point. Okay, so as they ripped
through the scales, (groans) and the flesh of the fish, eventually an anticoagulant
that they released from their saliva allows
them to slip down the blood, and the bodily fluid. Oh wow, I can definitely
feel something going to town there. Similar to the leeches, I can feel that tongue working
around (groans) on my skin, and the suction, my goodness, I would
say that's more powerful than four tons of vacuum cleaner. It is pulling my skin
up and into its mouth. Yowzers! Okay, that is an uncomfortable feeling. Now the difference between the lamprey, and a leech is that the
leech had these little jaws that were kind of in the shape
of the Mercedes Benz logo that would slice into your body. Of course, that anticoagulant, and the numbing agent didn't
allow me to feel anything. I don't think that
there's a numbing agent, that's being involved in
the grasp of the lamprey. (upbeat pulsing music) Yeah, wow, it is really, (screams), it is really, really
digging in at this point. Ooh, yeah, something's happening. Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh! (groans) Wow, that suction is unreal. Oh, whoa! Yup, something's happening? Something is definitely happening. Oh, it's grasping down tighter. Now, what's interesting about the teeth. Ah, okay, it let go, it let go. So I wanna get a good
look at, yowzers, that. Ah, man, that just makes
my whole body squirm, and when that thing pops off, it's like a really strong suction cup just (slurps) coming off of my arm. Look at the way that the
teeth curved into my skin and suctioned on. You can see where those jawless
lips were locked in place. And right there is where all
of those teeth were digging in. You can see the purple
coloration in my skin, and honestly, just a
little bit of blood seeping through right at that spot. Now with my forearm, I have to think that that
skin is pretty tough. There's a lot of muscle
here and it's very solid. There's not necessarily,
you know, like a fish. A fish's body has organs in soft spots, and those lamprey are really
going to try to hone in on an area that they can easily dig into. My forearm, not exactly
giving the best opportunity to dig in. I felt the effects, but I think it's time to
step up to the next level, and let one of these lamprey
adhere to my stomach. All right, Mario, are you ready? I'm going to lift up my shirt, and expose a nice soft section of flesh. Very soft, good squishy area - You ready for one?
- for one these to be able to grab on and create suction. - Okay, let's let him find his target. He's trying to suction onto me. (Coyote screams) Oh, man. - He's gonna run through glove. Oh, okay.
- Okay. - Let him twist his head. - [Alderboa] He's good. - I think he's (screams). Yeah, that's pretty good. (groans) - He's on.
- Oh yeah. That is definitely (groans) a much different feeling than the forearm. Now the skin of my belly is much softer, and that suction is (groans) going to go into town right now. I feel all those teeth
(screams) digging in. Oh, the twist is tough. Now when these creatures
are out in the environment, (screams) look at that, he came off! (tense music) Ooh, that's good suction right there. Oh, wow, yeah. I could definitely
feel the teeth digging in, and it almost feels like
like that tongue is starting to rasp around. Whoa, that makes your skin crawl. Ah, okay. Probably approaching the 62nd Mark here with this creeper. True creepy slime monster
suctioned on. (groans) Okay, just embrace it. Now it's not so much painful
as it is like a pressure, a real strong suction, and just that really
creepy feeling that wow, is this thing actually? Oh, oh, ooh, let go.
- We're good. He's back out there.
- Oh, no, he just picked a different spot. (groans) Oh, yeah, that's an
even better hold right there. I think you repositioned and said, "Oh, you know what? This spot's even softer. And maybe even tastier," Real question is will it begin
to have a feeding response and actually try to eat me? Remember it's not going after my organs. It's not trying to burrow inside me. What they do is remove the skin, and the flesh of the fish, so that they can get down to the blood and the bodily fluids. Okay, let go. (groans) - That's a lot of blood there. - Okay. As I told you guys, there may be blood, there you have it. That is a pretty good suction,
teeth grinding the skin, tongue rasping away, almost like a razor sharp cheese grater. And you could see the battle wound there. Little bit of blood, not too bad. It actually feels good to actually have the fish off of my skin at this point, ouch! I think what I learned from that bike is that it ultimately
determined once my blood got into its mouth that
perhaps this isn't a fish. This isn't something that
I'm going to feast upon. But because they have the
nickname (groans) vampire fish, I think we need to go
through with the third, and ultimate suction. And we all know that
vampire bite on to necks which means that our next lamprey is going to take a good chomp right out of my neck. Lots of blood flow right there, really soft skin. (exhales) I know you guys wanna see what's gonna happen. I think I'm ready. Dr. Alderboa find us an
extra hungry sea lamprey. The buffet line just became an
all you can eat buffet line. Let's place one on my neck. (suspenseful music) This is not easy. Not easy to let these
things head here onto you. Pick me a real good solid
slimy sucker, Mario. - All right, I got a good one. - Oh, he looks hungry.
- This guy is ready. - Okay, right up here.
- Okay, ready. (suspenseful music) (Coyote screams) There you go. Hang on to it. - Okay, I got it. - Oh my gosh. Yeah, that is a good,
good suction right there. Oh, it let go. It's looking for another spot. (groans) Oh, that is way more painful than the arm or the stomach. Ooh! (groans) Okay.
- You good. - Yeah, he's (groans)
suction on really good. I can feel that twisting sensation. Teeth grappling into place. Man, I feel like that's
right on a solid flow of blood right there. Oh, the vampire fish, it is truly living up to
its name at this point. (groans) I'm gonna try to let it suction
on for a full 60 seconds. (groans) Ooh wow, every time it twists, it's incredibly painful. Those little sharp
cone-shaped teeth digging in, goes to 150 teeth in that mouth, remember. Oh yeah, no, I can feel
the tongue grinding up against my skin. Oh, that makes my whole body squirm. Oh, that's incredible. (groans) - You're doing good. - How am I doing?
- Just relax. - Oh, okay, it let go. Oh, no, no, it's still
going for another bite! It went for another bite. Oh, yeah, he's got me good. You can feel it every bit
of those teeth grinding into the skin. Oh wow. Yep, now the tongue is
definitely going to work. It is trying to figure out, "Is this something that I can." Oh my goodness. (groans) That is about the most
uncomfortable feeling I felt in quite some time. (groans) It's really latched on. Oh! (Coyote groans) - Let it go. - No, no, don't tag on it. (groans) - You want him off? - Just let him remain there, I wanna make sure we get
to the full 60 seconds. They don't call these things vampire fish for nothing, folks. Oh, here we go. - That's a good one. Let go, hey, don't get on me. - Is there blood?
- Yep. - Now I promise you, guys, there will be some blood. A lot of blood flows through your neck, and that sea lamprey was
definitely locked in place. My goodness, oh man, it
makes me lightheaded, just to think about my blood and bodily fluids being
sucked up by the vampire fish. (suspenseful music) Okay, so here's what I was able
to determine at this point, those teeth are sharp, and that raspy tongue, yeah,
it's like a cheese grater going at your skin. But in the end I feel like
every time the blood came to the surface and they
got the taste of human in their mouth, they let go and said, "You know what? This isn't a fish. This isn't what I naturally feast upon." So if you head out into the Great Lakes for a swim I would definitely
say you have no fear of being suctioned to, let alone being eaten
alive by sea lamprey. Now, if you're a fish
swimming around out there in the lakes, this is without question
your worst nightmare. So the ongoing control
efforts to keep the population of sea lamprey in check
are incredibly important. Without this work being done the lamprey will be decimating
the fish populations. But again, like I said
when it comes to humans, you're heading out into the lake for swim, you have absolutely nothing to fear. I'm Coyote Peterson. Be brave. Stay wild. We'll see on the next adventure - I've got a few more in here that probably could use a feed. - [Coyote] I'm probably good. - Camera guy? - [Cameraman] Yeah, go
ahead, bring me one over. - You want one? - [Coyote] Around the world, invasive species have detrimental
effects on ecosystems, but no species has been more destructive to Great Lakes fish than sea lamprey. The fishery in these bodies of water was nearly destroyed. Yet the ongoing effort
to control these invaders led by the Great Lakes Fishery
Commission has been one of the most successful programs
of its type in history. So while millions upon millions
of eggs are laid each year, the lifecycle has been identified, and most importantly, intercepted. Thanks to the combination of environmentally safe lampricides, strategic river barriers, mass trappings, and pheromone, and alarm
cue experimentation, that may alter the course of spawning. The invasive sea lamprey
population has been reduced nearly 90% in the Great Lakes. Now that is a success story. Sea lamprey control is an investment into the health of the environment. If you would like to learn more, or have the desire to join
the fight against sea lamprey contact the Great Lakes
Fishery Commission, and help keep our fresh water systems free of blood sucking aliens. Hey, Coyote pack, if you think being eaten
alive by lamprey was intense, stay tuned as I set the dinner table for a tank full of piranha. And if you can't wait, join memberships right now, and be the first to see what happens. Oh boy. (animal roars)
Worst fleshlight ever.
r/dontputyourdickinthat
This guy is a masochist.
This is seriously gross!!!
He was weirdly into that.