Subpopulations inhabiting the Lake Skadar basin in Montenegro and Albania have been identified as conspecific with this taxon based on molecular characters (Tutman et al. 2017, Rüber et al. 2023). However, no comparison including adult individuals from the Skadar catchment has yet been carried out, therefore this classification is considered to be preliminary.

Global and European regional assessment: Near Threatened (NT)
EU 27 regional assessment: Near Threatened (NT)

Šoljan's Brook Lamprey has a restricted range (extent of occurrence (EOO) in Europe c. 9,219 km² and c. 502 km² for the EU 27 region), which meets the threshold for the Vulnerable category under Criterion B1 (EOO < 20,000 km²) and the extent and quality of habitat are estimated to be declining. However the population is not considered to be severely fragmented and the number of occupied locations is unknown.

Therefore, this species is assessed as Near Threatened (B1b(iii)) at the global and European regional scales and for the EU 27 member states as it is close to qualifying as Vulnerable under Criterion B.

This species is endemic to the Western Balkans region, where it is present in the lower Neretva River (Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia) and Lake Skadar basin (Albania and Montenegro).

In the Neretva catchment, it has been reported from the river's main stem upstream to its confluence with the affluent Buna River, plus a series of tributary systems comprising the Bregava River and Krupa River (including Hutovo Blato wetland) on the left bank, and the Trebižat River, Norin River, Lake Desankso and Baćina Lakes on the right bank. It is also present in the isolated Vrgorska Matica River in Vrgorsko polje, which receives most of its water through subsurface karstic conduits connected to the Trebižat River. The Vrgorska Matica has been directly linked to the Baćina Lakes since an artificial flood control tunnel was constructed during the late 1930s and expanded in 1974.

It may have a wider distribution in the Neretva watershed, as there exist a number of historic brook lamprey records from the upper part of the system. These were identified as the congeneric European Brook Lamprey (Lampetra planeri), which is not native to the Western Balkans.

In the Lake Skadar basin, it has been reported from the lower Morača River and its principal tributary the Zeta River in Montenegro, plus a small stream draining directly to the lake in Albania.

This species' current population size and trend have not been quantified, and the number of subpopulations is unknown.

Like other brook lampreys, this somewhat sedentary species is nonparasitic, spends its entire semelparous life cycle in freshwater and exhibits strong habitat fidelity with limited dispersal tendencies.

It is a specialised inhabitant of shallow (10-50 cm depth) rivers, streams and backwaters typified by clean, flowing, well-oxygenated water, and at least some patches of soft substrata comprising sand, silt or mud. Both adults and larvae (ammocoetes) have been collected from marginal zones in reaches with sluggish flow.

Its life cycle is characterised by a blind, microphagous larval (ammocoete) phase, which spends several years buried in freshwater sediments of sluggish river and stream reaches. The larvae are believed to be generalist feeders, filtering algae such as desmids and diatoms, detritus and miscroscopic animals from the water column, although some benthic organisms may also be consumed. Metamorphosis occurs at the end of this growth stage, at which point individuals develop functional eyes and eventually emerge from the substrate as short-lived, non-trophic adults which spawn and die. Hatching occurs c. two weeks after egg deposition, and 1-3 weeks later the larvae emerge from the spawning substrate and drift downstream to settle in sheltered areas, where they bury into silt beds.

This species is plausibly threatened by river regulation and other forms of anthropogenic habitat degradation. In particular, the ongoing construction of dams, weirs and other barriers has altered natural flow and sedimentation regimes, fragmented subpopulations, and reduced the extent and quality of suitable habitat for egg deposition and ammocoete development.

The quality of habitat has been further diminished by bank stabilisation, channelisation, capture of karstic springs and other efforts to enhance flood protection or exploit water resources for irrigated agriculture. Some habitats may also have been damaged by the industrial extraction of riverine gravel or other sediments for urban development.

This species is also threatened by diffuse and point source agricultural, domestic and industrial pollution, which has at some locations reduced the extent and quality of habitat due to eutrophication, siltation or discharge of toxic substances. Pollution can be particularly impactful when river discharge is reduced during the summer.

For example, the Hutovo Blato wetland naturally floods on an annual basis, but the extent to which it does so has decreased significantly due to reduced flow caused by hydropower development on the affluent Čapljina spring and elsewhere in the Neretva River system, including a chain of large dams on the main stem and the "Lower Horizons" hydropower scheme in the adjacent Trebišnjica River catchment. The ongoing (as of 2023) "Upper Horizons" hydropower strategy involve the channelling and pumping of additional water to the Trebišnjica from karstic poljes draining to the lower Neretva catchment, and is predicted to significantly reduce the discharge of several left-bank tributaries including the Buna and Bregava rivers.

In the Lake Skadar basin, the lower Morača River is polluted due to discharge of agricultural, domestic and industrial contaminants, the majority of which originate from Nikšić Polje (upper Zeta River), the Bjelopavlići Valley (middle Zeta River) and city of Podgorica. The construction of planned hydropower projects on the Morača River represents the most serious future threat, since these would interfere with downstream discharge, sedimentation and temperature regimes.

This species is sometimes used as live bait by recreational anglers, but is not otherwise used or traded.

This species is included in Appendices II and III of the Bern Convention (as Lethenteron zanandrai and Lampetra zanandreai, respectively), and Annex II of the European Union Habitats Directive (as Lethenteron zanandreai). It is nationally-protected in Croatia.

No specific conservation management plan exists, but a sizeable proportion of its range lies within protected areas. In Croatia, The Neretva Delta is a protected area that incorporates six sites included in the European Union's Natura 2000 network, albeit these are mostly focused on birds. The Montenegrin part of Lake Skadar was declared a National Park in 1983, and the Albanian portion a National Nature Reserve in 2005. The lower Zeta River in Montenegro has been protected since 2019. The Neretva Delta, Hutovo Blato and Lake Skadar are all included in the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (site numbers. 585, 1105 and 1598, respectively).

An ostensibly more sustainable management policy was implemented in the Hutovo Blato catchment following a European Union-funded LIFE project which ran from 2000-2002.

It is recommended that future research should focus on establishing the limits of this species' native range and identifying sites important for spawning and ammocoete development, in order to inform appropriate management decisions.