IT MAY sound like something more at home in a Steven Spielberg film but staff at Kingsnorth power station near Rochester have discovered a rare primitive fish during a routine inspection.

Bill Jones, the Powergen station's nature warden, was called in to investigate when operations staff discovered the enormous sea lamprey.

According to the Environment Agency (EA) it was the first sea lamprey to be recorded in the Medway Estuary and only the second in South East England.

The unsuspecting warden was amazed by the sight of the massive fish. Lampreys are direct descendants of the first jawless fish which emerged at the dawn of evolution.

He said: "I contacted the Environment Agency because I knew as soon as I saw it that it had to be pretty unusual.

"We get lots of river lamprey but at over three feet long it gave me quite a shock when I pulled this one out of the water."

The giant water creatures are fierce animals fully deserving their reputation as vampires of the deep.

"Sea lampreys look quite like eels and have sucker-like mouths with two sets of teeth that they use to cling on to other fish while they drink their blood," said Mr Jones.

He added: "Apparently sea lamprey will only live in very clean water and the EA say it's pretty exceptional to find one so I'm delighted it seems to like it here."

During his time at Kingsnorth power station, near Strood, Mr Jones has recorded more than 60 species of fish in the River Medway at the site.

The station provides an impressive array of rare birds and wildlife with a diverse natural habitat to live and breed in.

The wildlife attracts more than 2,000 visitors a year mainly school children and environmental groups.

* Although sea lampreys are rare in this country, in some North American lakes

their numbers have grown so large they are destroying fish stocks.