years ago, with the modern families likely splitting from each other sometime between the Middle Jurassic and the end of the Cretaceous.

Modern lampreys spend the majority of their lives in the juvenile "ammocoete" stage, where they burrow into the sediment and filter feed. Adult carnivorous lampreys are the most well-known species, and feed by boring into the flesh of other fish (or in rare cases marine mammals) to consume