Oregon Public Broadcasting

A tiny species of lamprey eel is being reintroduced to a mountain lake in Klamath County. As Kristian Foden-Vencil reports, the creature was considered extinct.

The state poisoned Miller Lake Lampreys in 1958 -- in an effort to improve local trout fishing.

But five years ago, scientists found a small surviving population in a creek. They've waited for the population to expand upstream to the lake. But they think a lack of lamprey pheromones coming downstream is inhibiting movement.

Roger Smith is a biologist with Oregon Fish and Wildlife.

Roger Smith: "I'm really excited about this. I mean in your career, you don't get a chance to right a wrong very often. People were responding to the demands of society at the time and society has changed. And this is the right thing to do. It is a unique species. They evolved over thousands of years in this area. And it's kind of nice to get it back to its namesake lake and have Miller Lake Lamprey there again."

All adult lampreys were killed in 1958. But scientist think some young lampreys, which live in the mud at the bottom of a creek for five years, must have survived.