Wednesday, August 13, 2025
Science
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • SCIENCE NEWS
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME
  • SCIENCE NEWS
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Scienmag
No Result
View All Result
Home Science News Biology

Scientists find ancient, endangered lamprey fish in Queensland, 1400 km north of its previous known range

May 8, 2024
in Biology
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
The mouth of a juvenile Australian brook lamprey.
66
SHARES
601
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

The Australian brook lamprey (Mordacia praecox) is part of a group of primitive jawless fish. It’s up to 15 cm long, with rows of sharp teeth. Surprisingly, it doesn’t use these teeth to suck blood like most lamprey species – it’s non-parasitic.

The mouth of a juvenile Australian brook lamprey.

Credit: David Moffatt

The Australian brook lamprey (Mordacia praecox) is part of a group of primitive jawless fish. It’s up to 15 cm long, with rows of sharp teeth. Surprisingly, it doesn’t use these teeth to suck blood like most lamprey species – it’s non-parasitic.

As larvae, the Australian brook lamprey lives buried in the bottom of streams for around three years, filter-feeding. Its adult phase is about one year long, in which it doesn’t feed at all. Prior to this study – funded in part by the Australian Government through the National Environmental Science Program’s (NESP) Resilient Landscapes Hub – the species was widely believed to only live in a few streams along a 170 km stretch of coastline near the NSW/Victoria border.

The study began after another exciting discovery: Dr Luke Carpenter-Bundhoo from the Australian Rivers Institute at Griffith University found the species living in streams on K’gari (Fraser Island). To unravel the mystery of Queensland lampreys, Dr Carpenter-Bundhoo teamed up with David Moffatt from DESI, who had found isolated populations of lamprey in other Queensland streams.

Together, they confirmed reports of Australian brook lamprey in Queensland, including as far north as Rockhampton! With this enormous extension of its geographic range, Australian brook lamprey becomes the only lamprey species in the world to live in truly tropical waters.

“It’s quite exciting to find an Endangered species so far out of its known range, yet so close to populated areas. We expect these animals naturally occur in Queensland, and have been here for an awfully long time, but have remained hidden due to their cryptic nature,” said Mr Moffatt.

The Australian brook lamprey is thought to be extinct where it was first described, in southern NSW. Its existence is thought to be threatened by sedimentation, wildfires, and human developments.

Perhaps the biggest threat to their conservation is that they’re very difficult to identify – this species truly faces a case of mistaken identity. For most of their life, the non-parasitic Australian brook lamprey is indistinguishable from its more common blood-sucking southern relative, the short-headed lamprey (Mordacia mordax), which has a conservation status of ‘Least Concern’.

Add to this the fact that, globally, only a few people can tell them apart.

In their new Endangered Species Research article, Dr Carpenter-Bundhoo and Mr Moffatt outline the difficulties of implementing a conservation strategy for this fish and propose some solutions.

The species’ conservation is especially important, given projected sea levels rises mean that many of the lowland freshwater coastal streams where Australian brook lamprey live are likely to become saltwater.

With these new findings, scientists will be better equipped to conserve this unusual and Endangered species.

The surveys were partially funded by a NESP project which aims to restore ecosystem health in the Moonaboola (Mary River) catchment area of south-east Queensland and protect threatened species like the Australian lungfish, the Mary River cod and the giant barred frog.



Journal

Endangered Species Research

DOI

10.3354/esr01319

Article Title

Expanding the known range and practical conservation issues of the Endangered Australian brook lamprey Mordacia praecox

Share26Tweet17
Previous Post

Terahertz flexible multiplexing chip enabled by synthetic topological phase transitions

Next Post

Grandmothers could be the answer to adolescent angst

Related Posts

blank
Biology

Microbial Molecule Discovered to Restore Liver and Gut Health, Scientists Report

August 12, 2025
blank
Biology

Pew Backs 10 Latin American Fellows Driving Scientific Innovation

August 12, 2025
blank
Biology

Pew Awards Biomedical Science Grants to 22 Researchers

August 12, 2025
blank
Biology

Genetically Engineered Mouse Model Sheds Light on Genetic Bone Disorders

August 12, 2025
blank
Biology

FAU Engineers and Sensing Institute Chart Brain Blood Flow with Neural Navigation Technology

August 12, 2025
blank
Biology

RNA Elements Directing DCL1 Cleavage in Plant microRNAs

August 12, 2025
Next Post
Grandmothers could be the answer to adolescent angst

Grandmothers could be the answer to adolescent angst

  • Mothers who receive childcare support from maternal grandparents show more parental warmth, finds NTU Singapore study

    Mothers who receive childcare support from maternal grandparents show more parental warmth, finds NTU Singapore study

    27532 shares
    Share 11010 Tweet 6881
  • University of Seville Breaks 120-Year-Old Mystery, Revises a Key Einstein Concept

    946 shares
    Share 378 Tweet 237
  • Bee body mass, pathogens and local climate influence heat tolerance

    641 shares
    Share 256 Tweet 160
  • Researchers record first-ever images and data of a shark experiencing a boat strike

    507 shares
    Share 203 Tweet 127
  • Warm seawater speeding up melting of ‘Doomsday Glacier,’ scientists warn

    310 shares
    Share 124 Tweet 78
Science

Embark on a thrilling journey of discovery with Scienmag.com—your ultimate source for cutting-edge breakthroughs. Immerse yourself in a world where curiosity knows no limits and tomorrow’s possibilities become today’s reality!

RECENT NEWS

  • Survey Reveals Taste and Price, Not Calorie Count, Drive Online Takeaway Orders
  • Gut-Brain Crosstalk: Impact on Neurodevelopment and Disorders
  • Repetitive Negative Thinking Links Childhood Anxiety and Depression
  • Neighborhood Stress and Telomere Length in San Francisco Families

Categories

  • Agriculture
  • Anthropology
  • Archaeology
  • Athmospheric
  • Biology
  • Bussines
  • Cancer
  • Chemistry
  • Climate
  • Earth Science
  • Marine
  • Mathematics
  • Medicine
  • Pediatry
  • Policy
  • Psychology & Psychiatry
  • Science Education
  • Social Science
  • Space
  • Technology and Engineering

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 4,859 other subscribers

© 2025 Scienmag - Science Magazine

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • HOME
  • SCIENCE NEWS
  • CONTACT US

© 2025 Scienmag - Science Magazine

Discover more from Science

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading