The Australian brook lamprey (Mordacia praecox) is a part of a bunch of primitive jawless fish. It is as much as 15 cm lengthy, with rows of sharp tooth. Surprisingly, it would not use these tooth to suck blood like most lamprey species — it is non-parasitic.
As larvae, the Australian brook lamprey lives buried within the backside of streams for round three years, filter-feeding. Its grownup section is about one yr lengthy, through which it would not feed in any respect. Previous to this examine — funded partially by the Australian Authorities by means of the Nationwide Environmental Science Program’s (NESP) Resilient Landscapes Hub — the species was extensively believed to solely dwell in just a few streams alongside a 170 km stretch of shoreline close to the NSW/Victoria border.
The examine started after one other thrilling discovery: Dr Luke Carpenter-Bundhoo from the Australian Rivers Institute at Griffith College discovered the species residing in streams on Ok’gari (Fraser Island). To unravel the thriller of Queensland lampreys, Dr Carpenter-Bundhoo teamed up with David Moffatt from DESI, who had discovered remoted populations of lamprey in different Queensland streams.
Collectively, they confirmed reviews of Australian brook lamprey in Queensland, together with as far north as Rockhampton! With this monumental extension of its geographic vary, Australian brook lamprey turns into the one lamprey species on the planet to dwell in really tropical waters.
“It is fairly thrilling to seek out an Endangered species to date out of its identified vary, but so near populated areas. We anticipate these animals naturally happen in Queensland, and have been right here for an awfully very long time, however have remained hidden attributable to their cryptic nature,” stated Mr Moffatt.
The Australian brook lamprey is considered extinct the place it was first described, in southern NSW. Its existence is considered threatened by sedimentation, wildfires, and human developments.
Maybe the most important menace to their conservation is that they are very troublesome to determine — this species really faces a case of mistaken identification. For many of their life, the non-parasitic Australian brook lamprey is indistinguishable from its extra frequent blood-sucking southern relative, the short-headed lamprey (Mordacia mordax), which has a conservation standing of ‘Least Concern’.
Add to this the truth that, globally, only some individuals can inform them aside.
Of their new Endangered Species Analysis article, Dr Carpenter-Bundhoo and Mr Moffatt define the difficulties of implementing a conservation technique for this fish and suggest some options.
The species’ conservation is particularly necessary, given projected sea ranges rises imply that most of the lowland freshwater coastal streams the place Australian brook lamprey dwell are prone to turn out to be saltwater.
With these new findings, scientists will likely be higher outfitted to preserve this uncommon and Endangered species.
The surveys had been partially funded by a NESP mission which goals to revive ecosystem well being within the Moonaboola (Mary River) catchment space of south-east Queensland and defend threatened species just like the Australian lungfish, the Mary River cod and the enormous barred frog.
