By JOHN FLESHER
AP Environmental Writer
HURON BEACH, Mich. (AP) - Great Lakes biologists hope to make progress in the fight against the invasive sea lamprey by taking advantage of the eel-like fish's keen sense of smell.
Researchers at the Hammond Bay Biological Station on Lake Huron are testing mating pheromones, which are scents emitted by male lampreys to attract females. They're also working on scents that smell like baby lampreys or rotting lamprey flesh.
They hope to use the scents to trap and poison the lampreys, which entered the Great Lakes in the last century and decimated trout and other prized species. Keeping lampreys under control costs more than $20 million a year.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
