With populations of the Pacific lamprey on the decline, officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are hoping to win over the public's interest in the horrifying, bloodsucking creatures with a new social media campaign. Enter Luna the lamprey, a fictional and personified lamprey currently tweeting her way from the Pacific Ocean to spawning grounds in Oregon's Columbia River to raise awareness of the ugly, but threatened sea creatures.

The lampreys, which were once abundant along the Pacific Coast from California to Washington, can grow to be two feet long and spend their first three to seven years wallowing in the in the mud of freshwater rivers before heading out to the ocean. Once out in the open water, a lamprey's vampiric urge takes over and they can latch on to larger fish — sucking blood and living rent-free — for up to three years. Despite their reputation, the lampreys are a necessary food source for the salmon that share their rivers in the Pacific Northwest and are dying off due to dam construction, habitat destruction and floodplain degradation.

As for Luna, despite her lack of opposable thumbs (or hands for that matter), she has managed to crank out 95 tweets on her journey up the John Day River in Oregon. The Fish and Wildlife Service hopes Luna's (terrifying!) twitpics and Facebook posts will help put a friendly face on the creatures. Luna has sadly already lost a few companions on her trip up the river. Last week, she lamented the death of her pal Louie, who died trying to climb a dam fish ladder.

According to the mastermind behind Luna's Twitter and Facebook pages the social media campaign was inspired by the tweeting snake that escaped from the Bronx Zoo last year.

[Chron]
[@LunaTheLamprey]