Northern Italian lamprey
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Northern Italian lamprey ( Lethenteron zanandreai ) |
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| Lethenteron zanandreai | ||||||||||||
| ( Vladykov , 1955) |
The Northern Italian lamprey ( Lethenteron zanandreai ), also top Italian brook lamprey called, is a kind from the family of lampreys . The distribution area of this lamprey is a relatively small area from the southern edge of the Alps to the Po . It only inhabits the left tributaries of the Pos.
Features and way of life
The Northern Italian lamprey has the typical shape of lamprey. The body is eel-shaped. It lacks paired fins, on the other hand the dorsal fin is continuous in sexually mature animals. It has a round suction mouth and seven gill openings behind the eye. The Northern Italian lamprey does not grow taller than 19 centimeters and remains as thin as a pencil.
In its way of life, the Northern Italian lamprey has a lot in common with the brook lamprey , although this is considered to be a different genus. The Northern Italian lamprey was even considered a subspecies of this lamprey species for a time. In contrast to the brook lamprey, the northern Italian lamprey is mainly found in spring waters. Like the brook lamprey, however, it is a stationary form of freshwater that, unlike the river or sea lamprey , does not migrate into the sea after the larval stage. In the larval stage, the northern Italian lampreys feed on small organisms that they filter out of the water. Northern Italian lampreys do not consume any more food after the transformation into an adult animal. During the metamorphosis, the intestine is already receding.
In the female Northern Italian lamprey there is occasional neoteny , i. H. the Querder are ready to spawn without having undergone a transformation to the adult lamprey.
protection
The Northern Italian lamprey is listed by the European Union in Appendix II of the Habitats Directive and is therefore a type of community interest, for whose preservation special protected areas must be designated by the member states.
supporting documents
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gerstmeier and Romig, p. 130
literature
- Roland Gerstmeier and Thomas Romig: The freshwater fish of Europe , Franckh-Kosmos Verlag, Stuttgart 2003, ISBN 3-440-09483-9
Web links
- Northern Italian lamprey on Fishbase.org (English)
- Lampetra zanandreai inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2013.2. Posted by: Freyhof, J., 2010. Retrieved February 6, 2014.