Mordacia praecox, Non-parasitic lamprey

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Mordacia praecox Potter, 1968

Non-parasitic lamprey
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Mordacia praecox
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Petromyzonti (lampreys) > Petromyzontiformes (Lampreys) > Mordaciidae (Southern topeyed lampreys)
Etymology: Mordacia: Etymology not explained, likely derived from mordax (L.), biting, referring to specific name of M. mordax. (See ETYFish);  praecox: Latin for premature, referring to its “precocious nature of sexual development,” wherein newly metamorphosed ammocoetes become sexually mature without first reaching their adult parasitic phase. (See ETYFish).

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Freshwater; demersal; potamodromous (Ref. 51243). Temperate

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Oceania: known only from the Moruya and Tuross Rivers in southern New South Wales, Australia.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 50.0 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 44894); common length : 37.5 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 44894)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Adults: 10.2-172 mm TL; body proportions, as percentage of TL: 9.4-12.6 prebranchial length, 8.2-9.9 branchial length, 59.6-64.2 trunk length, 16.5-20.4 tail length, 1.3-1.5 eye length and 5.4-8.4 disc length; no gular pouch develops; urogenital papilla not prominent in mature adults; trunk myomeres, 85-93. Adult dentition: 2 triangular supraoral laminae each with 3 unicuspid teeth, 1 per apex (exceptionally, 4 unicuspid teeth per supraoral lamina); Infraoral lamina, 9-10 unicuspid teeth of various size (these teeth become greatly enlarged with sexual maturation); 5-6 endolaterals on each side; endolateral formula, typically 2-2-3-3-4-3 or 2-2-3-3-4-4 in immature individuals and 1-1-1-1-1 or 1-1-1-1-1-1 in mature individuals; 1 row of anterials; first row of anterials, 2 unicuspid teeth flanked on either side by one bicuspid tooth in immature individuals and 4 unicuspid teeth in mature individuals; 1-2 rows of exolaterals on each side; 1 row of posterials; first row of posterials, 16 posterial plates, the three lateralmost tricuspid and the internal ones bicuspid in immature individuals and 13 unicuspid teeth in mature individuals; transverse lingual lamina w-shaped with numerous unicuspid teeth of various size, the middle apex one being intermediate in size and the two bottom apex ones being largest, while the rest are small; longitudinal lingual laminae hook-shaped each with an undetermined number of unicuspid teeth. Body coloration (live) of mature adults with dark blue dorsal surface, occasionally with a green tinge, ventral surface of males mottled gray and ventral surface of females yellowish; extent of caudal fin pigmentation, 25% to <75%; caudal fin shape, spade-like; oral papillae, 33-48 (Ref. 89241).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Inhabits freshwater streams, a non-parasitic lamprey that spends its entire life cycle in freshwater. Ammocoetes burrow in soft substrates, phase lasts about 3 years; metamorphosis usually occurs between October and November. Presumed to migrate upstream around April, and spawns in late winter or spring (Ref. 44894). Fecundity, 326-675 eggs/female (Ref. 89241).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Allen, G.R., 1989. Freshwater fishes of Australia. T.F.H. Publications, Inc., Neptune City, New Jersey. (Ref. 5259)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Endangered (EN) (A2b; B2ab(v)); Date assessed: 04 February 2019

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: of no interest
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoobank | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.7500   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00102 (0.00046 - 0.00225), b=3.06 (2.88 - 3.24), in cm total length, based on all LWR estimates for this body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  4.4   ±0.8 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (Semelparous species, assuming tm (= tmax) > 4).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Moderate vulnerability (44 of 100).