The silver lamprey is an eel-like fish with an attenuate body composed of 49–52 clearly defined segments (i.e. myomeres, between the last gill slit and the anus).

Silver lampreys possess a cartilaginous skeleton, and adults generally grow to a length of 12 inches and are silvery or bluish in color when spawning.

The mouth is a jawless, sucking disc, with unicuspid teeth arranged in circular rows and is in the inferior position.

Adult silver lampreys prefer the clear waters of large streams, rivers, and lakes.

Adults feed on a variety of fishes, including trout, whitefish, smelt, pike, white sucker, brown bullhead, rock bass, walleye, and the armored lake sturgeon.

Adult silver lampreys move upstream to spawn in May and June, when the water temperature reaches 50 °F.

When they are approximately four to five inches long, the ammocoetes metamorphose into parasitic adults and migrate downstream to search for hosts.