The lamprey life cycle begins in freshwater streams. Once they hatch from their eggs the young ammocoetes bury themselves in a U-shaped burrow in silty or sandy river bottoms (Mee-Mann). The ammocoete, however leave their heads out of their burrow in order to filter feed on algae and microscopic organisms in the stream. The lamprey young often will migrate at night by drifting on the current, and then re burrowing downstream (Mee-Mann). Ammocoetes will often grow up to five inches long in their burrows, and remain in the larval stage for 7-10 years before maturing into the parasitic form of lamprey that prey on fish(Sea). This transformation usually occurs in mid to late summer, and brings several changes to the ammocoetes. The ammocoete develop
