Rita Haggard, Age 10, Of Rockford, Ill., for her question:

What is a lamprey eel?

The eel is a true fish with a bony skeleton. The lamprey looks some what like an ee1, but his bones are made of gristly cartilage. The eel makes a living for himself, hunting for food in the seas and rivers. The lamprey has no jaws, and he is a parasite who feeds on the blood of fishes and other sea dwellers.

The mouth of the lamprey is a round, sucking disk which he uses to attach himself to a fish or other host animal. In time, the fish weakens and dies, and the lamprey finds a new host. Lampreys have done untold damage to the fish in our great lakes; and every year, sea lamprey take a huge toll of the fish we use for food.