A lampricide is any chemical designed to target the larvae of

lampreys Lampreys (sometimes inaccurately called lamprey eels) are an ancient extant lineage of jawless fish of the order Petromyzontiformes , placed in the superclass Cyclostomata. The adult lamprey may be characterized by a toothed, funnel-like su ...

in river systems before they develop into parasitic adults. One lampricide is used in the headwaters of

Lake Champlain , native_name_lang = , image = Champlainmap.svg , caption = Lake Champlain-River Richelieu watershed , image_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = New York/ Vermont in the United States; and Quebec in Canada , coords = , type ...

and the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

to control the

sea lamprey The sea lamprey (''Petromyzon marinus'') is a parasitic lamprey native to the Northern Hemisphere. It is sometimes referred to as the "vampire fish". Description The sea lamprey has an eel-like body without paired fins. Its mouth is jawless, ...

(''Petromyzon marinus''), an invasive species to these lakes. TFM (3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol) is the main chemical used for this purpose. As it is hydrophobic, it passes through biological membranes. TFM is a metabolic uncoupler—that is, TFM separates the

electron transport chain An electron transport chain (ETC) is a series of protein complexes and other molecules that transfer electrons from electron donors to electron acceptors via redox reactions (both reduction and oxidation occurring simultaneously) and couples ...

from ATP synthesis, resulting in the failure of the

aerobic respiration Cellular respiration is the process by which biological fuels are oxidised in the presence of an inorganic electron acceptor such as oxygen to produce large amounts of energy, to drive the bulk production of ATP. Cellular respiration may be des ...

process. It accomplishes this by disrupting the

electrochemical gradient An electrochemical gradient is a gradient of electrochemical potential, usually for an ion that can move across a membrane. The gradient consists of two parts, the chemical gradient, or difference in solute concentration across a membrane, and ...

that powers

ATP synthase ATP synthase is a protein that catalyzes the formation of the energy storage molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP) using adenosine diphosphate (ADP) and inorganic phosphate (Pi). It is classified under ligases as it changes ADP by the formation ...

—as an acid, it donates H+ ions to the

mitochondrial matrix In the mitochondrion, the matrix is the space within the inner membrane. The word "matrix" stems from the fact that this space is viscous, compared to the relatively aqueous cytoplasm. The mitochondrial matrix contains the mitochondrial DNA, ribo ...

. The electron transport chain is not affected and continues using oxygen, without producing ATP. While the general opinion is that TFM typically does not harm other fish (due to the relationship between true fish and lampreys), lampricide can be problematic for many amphibians, such as mudpuppies (genus ''

Necturus ''Necturus'' is a genus of aquatic salamanders native to the eastern United States and Canada. They are commonly known as waterdogs and mudpuppies. The common mudpuppy ''(N. maculosus)'' is probably the best-known species – as an amphibian ...

'') which often share the same habitats. Also, some more "primitive" species of fish, such as the

sturgeon Sturgeon is the common name for the 27 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. The earliest sturgeon fossils date to the Late Cretaceous, and are descended from other, earlier acipenseriform fish, which date back to the Early ...

in the

are sensitive to chemicals such as TFM.

References

External links

Sea Lamprey Larvicide LAMPRECID
{dead link, date=December 2017 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes
Great Lakes Fishery CommissionBryan, et al., Mol Ecol, 2005
Pesticides Fisheries science Agnatha