Great Lakes lamprey headed to Britain

ANN ARBOR, Mich., April 27 (UPI) -- Officials with the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, based in Michigan, said they are happy to send nuisance sea lamprey to England to be cooked for the queen.

Commission spokesman Marc Gaden said officials were delighted when the city of Gloucester, England, asked for some of the eel-like creatures to bake into a pie for Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee in June, the Detroit Free Press reported Friday.

Sea lamprey are considered a protected species in Gloucester, which has presented the monarch with lamprey pies as traditional gifts since the Middle Ages.

Gaden said commission officials only wish they could send more of the lamprey, which are considered a nuisance species in the Great Lakes.

"We would prefer to send them truckloads of lamprey," he said.

Gaden said he will present the frozen lamprey to the mayor of Gloucester May 4.