Family MORDACIIDAE

Mordacia mordax

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Introduction

Lampreys have been placed by some authors into three subfamilies or into three separate families, the Petromyzontidae of the Northern Hemisphere, and the Geotriidae and Mordaciidae of the Southern Hemisphere (Potter 1986; Gill et al. 2003), Nelson (2006) followed Gill et al. (2003) in recognising separate families, and this arrangement is followed here. Renaud (2011) also recognised three families. The familiy, Mordaciidae, contains one genus and three species, with two species found in Australia.

The larvae and juveniles are found in marine waters, but the mature adults occur in freshwater.

Potter & Strahan (1968), Hubbs & Potter (1971), Strahan (1980) and Allen et al. (2002) reviewed the Australian species and provided information on their biology.

General References

Allen, G.R., Midgley, S.H. & Allen, M. 2002. Field Guide to the Freshwater Fishes of Australia. Perth : Western Australian Museum 394 pp.

Gill, H.S., Renaud, C.B., Chapleau, F., Mayden, R.L. & Potter I.C. 2003. Phylogeny of living parasitic lampreys (Petromyzontiformes) based on morphological data. Copeia 2003(4): 687-703

Hubbs, C.L. & Potter, I.C. 1971. Distribution, phylogeny and taxonomy. pp. 1-65 figs 1-112 in Hardisty, M.W. & Potter, I.C. (eds). The Biology of Lampreys. London : Academic Press Vol. 1.

Nelson, J.S. 2006. Fishes of the World. Hoboken, New Jersey : John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 601 pp.

Potter, I.C. 1986. The distinctive characters of southern hemisphere lampreys (Geotriidae and Mordaciidae). pp. 9-29 in Uyeno, T., Arai, R., Taniuchi, T. & Matsuura, K. (eds). Indo-Pacific Fish Biology. Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Indo-Pacific Fishes. Tokyo : Ichthyological Society of Japan 985 pp.

Potter, I.C. & Strahan, R. 1968. The taxonomy of lampreys Geotria and Mordacia and their distribution in Australia. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London 179(2): 229-240 figs 1-2

Renaud, C.B. 2011. Lampreys of the World. An Annotated and Illustrated Catalogue of Lamprey Species Known to Date. FAO Species Catalogue for Fisheries Purposes No. 5. Rome : FAO 116 pp.

Strahan, R. 1980. Family Mordaciidae: short-headed lampreys; Family Geotriidae: pouched lamprey. pp. 38-43 6 figs in McDowall, R.M. (ed.). Freshwater Fishes of South-eastern Australia. Sydney : A.H. & A.W. Reed 208 pp., figs, 32 pls.

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