User:Oceanflynn/sandbox/Morrison Creek lamprey

This sandbox page is to be deleted when the main page article Morrison Creek lamprey is stable.

The Morrison Creek lamprey (Lampetra richardsoni var. marifuga) is a 15 cm to 18 cm-long, endangered, parasitic, undescribed variety of the jawless fish Lampetra richardsoni endemic in Canada that is unique to the Morrison Creek watershed in Comox Valley, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The Morrison Creek watershed has three reported lampreyPacific lamprey Lampetra tridentata, the Western brook lamprey L.richardsoni and the Morrison Creek Lamprey L.richardsoni variety marifuga. The latter is a rare form of the Western brook lampreywhich is not endangered can only feed in its larvae stage as it has no teeth. The Morrison Creek Lamprey, which has teeth, is able to feed after it becomes an adult. As of 2020, Morrison Creek lamprey had not been formally classified and is tentatively called the Morrison Creek variety or population.

Parasitic and non-parasitic forms
The Morrison Creek lamprey form or population of ''Lampetra richardsoni var. marifuga'', which is parasitic, is distinguished from the non-parasitic Western brook lamprey form, which has no teeth, by its "silver colour, white belly and prominent teeth".

Habitat
The sole habitat of the Morrison Creek Lamprey is in Morrison Creek, whose headwaters are called qax mot in the K'ómoks language which means "lots of medicine". The Kʼómoks First Nation have not been able to harvest the abundant, diverse medicinal plants because the headwaters have been privately owned by Manulife Investment. The Morrison Creek lamprey range jurisdiction is exclusively in this area spanning less than 50 km2. The Creek, a tributary to the Puntledge River in Comox Valley Courtenay, British Columbia on Vancouver Island, is part of an "unusual, drought-proof" wetland. Freshwater springs fed from Comox Lake, which in turn is glacier fed replenish the Morrison Creek's freshwaters providing the creek with a reliable streamflow that sustains four species of salmon along with the Morrison Creek lamprey. Morrison Creek is known for as a significant habitat for the Puntledge River system Coho salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch. There are fourteen species at risk in the watershed. Twenty-two hectares of the Morrison Creek Headwaters are designated as protected land. As of November 2022, Manulife Investment was in the process of selling the 289-hectare parcel Morrison Creek headwaters for $4.75-million to the Comox Valley Land Trust, who have been part of a community effort to protect the watershed, and the Morrison Creek lamprey, for two decades.

Population
With a generation time of four to nine years years, the population of the Morrison Creek lamprey is on decline under threat of loss and or degradation of habitat due to the construction of a highway and development of residential areas.

Status
In April 1999, the population of the Morrison Creek lamprey was designated as "Threatened" and after a re-examination in May 2000, its status was listed as Endangered by COSEWIC.