June 12, 2015 — It all began outside of Value Village in Fairbanks, Alaska. Somehow, a strange-looking eel-like fish — equipped with teeth perfect for latching onto another animal and sucking its blood — ended up in the thrift store’s parking lot last week.
Oh, and the fish was alive.
So store employees put the wiggling creature in a bucket of water and called the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to report it.
The department has since received three other reports of the fish on land in Fairbanks, including one spotted on a man’s lawn.
They are arctic lampreys — long, jawless fish that are the most common lamprey in Alaskan waters.
“They are parasites on other fish and sometimes other marine animals,” said ADFG sport fish information officer Nancy Sisinyak. “They latch on with those rasping teeth and they live off of the nutrients of that host animal.”