Five Facts about Love Potion #3kPZS

By -



Five Facts about Love Potion #3kPZS: By Sharon Moen, Minnesota Sea Grant

Weiming Li, now FEJ Fry Chair of Environmental Physiology at Michigan State University, labored since he was a Sea Grant-funded doctoral student at the University of Minnesota in the early 1990s to bring a pheromone to the Great Lakes Fishery Commission in a useful form for managing sea lamprey. In December 2015 the U.S. EPA approved 3kPZS for use in the Great Lakes and Canadian approval isn’t far behind. 
  1. The smell of success smells like nothing. Well, 3kPZS smells like nothing to you. Yet, mere drops of this species-specific compound will send females whipping miles upstream in a come-hither rush. Emitted by male sea lamprey, the pheromone lures mate-ready females into traps and Li expects it can draw almost-mate-ready lamprey of both sexes to a particular area. 
  2. “Love potions” could be pivotal for managing primitive fish. "Lamprey ... I would hardly call them fish…,” says Peter Sorensen, Li’s former advisor and professor at the University of Minnesota, “…they’re some sort of cartilaginous, prehistoric beings. And they’re devils to manage.” The U.S. and Canada have worked for six decades to control a species whose massive olfactory organs rival the size of their brains. Physical barriers, traps and a $20-million-per-year lampricide program have been their tools until now. Experts think pheromonal cues akin to 3kPZS might revolutionize efforts to save Pacific lamprey, and dwindling lamprey populations in Europe.
  3. This is a story about vision and grit. “To make breakthrough advances, you’ve got to have the freedom to make mistakes and you must be given time,” said Sorensen. “I applaud Li’s perseverance and credit the Great Lakes Fishery Commission for affording him the freedom and time to create this useful tool.” If you ask Li, now 25 years in, what he likes best about his work, he is puzzled. “I love it all,” he says. “Discovery is exciting but the questions and methods are, too.”
  4. Sea Grant funded the initial research but the history spans an ocean.The arrival of 3kPZS is preceded by a quest to identify migratory pheromones that bring lamprey into particular streams. In an inspired moment, Sorensen and Li wrote to G.A.D. Haselwood, a biochemist who documented how the bile acids of sea lamprey were peculiar, as if the steroid was constructed backward (1967). Upon receiving the letter, the retired Englishman traveled from his seaside cottage to his old laboratory in London. There, he unearthed a few crystals of the bile salt and mailed them to Minnesota. “We owed everything to him,” said Sorensen. “It was only a couple of crystals but when we exposed sea lamprey to Haselwood’s bile salt we knew instantly how important they were. That’s where this started.”
  5. 3kPZS is only the beginning.  Fish Pheromones and Related Cues (2015) , co-edited by Sorensen, is ushering the emerging field of managing fish with pheromones along. Meanwhile, related Sea Grant projects have included ruffe,trout and shrimp. The Great Lakes Fishery Commission continues to support sea lamprey work and federal grants are enabling Sorensen’s laboratory to investigate aggregation pheromones to aid in managing invasive carp

Minnesota Sea Grant article here

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Shorecasting the North Shore

By -
Image
Shore casting the North Shore of Lake Superior can at times appear to be a daunting task, it is, however, an enjoyable and very effective way to fish the big lake.  River mouths Most of us have seen the numerous fishermen lining the banks near the French or Lester rivers. Why? Because these are consistently good places to fish. A beginning shore caster would be smart to start their quest fishing river mouths, particularly early in the season when steelhead, Kamloops and lakers can be found in abundance. The river plumes provide warm water and a steady flow of bugs which fish like. Due to the fairly shallow water found at most mouths, it’s best to fish them in low light. Target these areas early in the morning and late in the evening or on a dreary overcast day. You will be less noticeable to the fish and they will be less apt to spook.  Seeing how there are over 25 potential stream/river mouths to fish it would be crazy to ignore these great areas. Fly and hardware...
Read more

Pom-Pom Eggs - The Inexpensive Glo-Bug

By -
Image
One of the most useful and productive fly patterns you can carry when you fish the runs for steelhead, kamloops and salmon are eggs. Any time free drifting eggs are in the stream is a good time to fish them and, they can be fished with any type of equipment from Fly to Spinning rods. A wise SE Wisconsin guide once told me, "Any pattern will catch fish, as long as it has an egg in it." As with all flies, you will go through A LOT of them. One option is to purchase them, but at a dollar a pop or more, making your own is a simple and inexpensive proposition. In a short amount of time and with just a few simple tools, you can crank out eggs by the hundreds at just pennies per piece. I’m going to assume that you know how to do some basic tying; but if you don’t, this is a good pattern to start learning with because it will teach you some of the basics: How to Start Your Thread , how to position materials, and the Whip Finish . On Sizing I use the metric standard because it is eas...
Read more

No Treble Hooks!

By -
Image
 Years ago all an angler had was a paper regulation booklet and the word from fellow anglers and DNR officials stating that treble hooks are not allowed in our north shore tributaries below the posted boundaries.  This should be enough, right? Today we still have those regulation booklets and honestly they have come a long way in clarifying the dos and don'ts regarding our north shore fishery.  We also have dozens of signs along our rivers explaining the dos and don't as well as specifically stating the use of treble hooks. If that was not enough, anglers can simply search the internet.  Heck, these days, you can search stream side right from your phone.  In fact this post will be available streamside to anyone willing to take the time to search the web or scan the UR code from our report cards that went out this spring. Pictured above is a photo of a a crankbait that is in many o' bass anglers tackle arsenal. Heck, I have a few myself. T...
Read more