The Traverse City Visitor Center will host a special exhibit on sea lampreys - an invasive fish sometimes called the "vampire of the Great Lakes" - September 4-7. Sponsored by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission and the U.S. Geological Survey, the exhibit will include a tank of live lampreys that visitors can watch and handle, as well as information about the creatures and the methods used to control them. Lamprey control experts from the USGS biological station at Hammond Bay will be on-site to answer questions.

"The Great Lakes fishery is worth $7 billion to the people of Canada and the United States," says Traverse City Mayor Michael Estes, an advisor to the Fishery Commission, "and without sea lamprey control, we simply would not have the fishery we enjoy today."

The exhibit can be viewed at the Visitor Center located at 101 West Grandview Parkway on Friday, Saturday and Monday (Sept. 4, 5 and 7) from 9am-6pm and Sunday (Sept. 6) from 11am-3pm.