Lepidogalaxias | |
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Lepidogalaxias, a male (up) and a female (down) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Cohort: | Euteleostei |
Superorder: | Lepidogalaxii |
Order: | Lepidogalaxiiformes |
Family: | Lepidogalaxiidae Rosen, 1974 |
Genus: | Lepidogalaxias Mees, 1961 |
Species: | L. salamandroides |
Binomial name | |
Lepidogalaxias salamandroides Mees, 1961 | |
Lepidogalaxias salamandroides is a species of small freshwater fish of Western Australia. It is the only member of the family Lepidogalaxiidae and genus Lepidogalaxias. Common names for this fish include salamanderfish and Shannon mudminnow. Although it is not a lungfish, it resembles lungfish in several respects, including its ability to survive dry seasons by burrowing into the sand. It is on the IUCN Red List as Endangered. [1]
Lepidogalaxias salamandroides is small with females measuring up to 7 cm in length. This species has a slender, elongate and cylindrical body. The colour is brownish-green on the upper parts, silver-speckled and blotched on the sides, very pale below, and the fin membranes are transparent. The reddish eyes are fixed, lack eye muscles and are covered by a secondary eyelid, but the fish is able to move its neck in any direction. [2] [3] [4]
The salamanderfish spawn in winter when water levels are highest. [5] Fertilization is internal, [6] and females produce 100–400 eggs with a diameter of 1.1–1.3mm, which hatch into bottom-feeder larvae 5.5mm long. Larvae and juveniles grow rapidly to gain fat stores to survive the summer drought period. [5] Individuals reach up to 5 years of age.
The salamanderfish is carnivorous, mainly feeding on aquatic insect larvae. When their habitat dries up they switch to atmospheric gas exchange via cutaneous respiration. The swim bladder on the other hand is not suitable for aerial respiration. [7]
It has a limited distribution in acidic pools of water in heathland peat flats of southwest Australia, between the Blackwood and Kent Rivers. [8] This range is across a distance of 180 kilometres, in an area of Northcliffe, they are common in this region. [3] Its habitat is semi-permanent water, small pools and streams that may be high in tannins and acidity (pH 3.0–6.5). They experience a range of water temperatures, daily changes of 16 to 32 degrees Celsius, in pools no deeper than 0.1 metres. The species rests on the bottom of the water using elongated pelvic and rounded caudal fins. These small and shallow pools may contain a population of around 150 individuals, are generally no larger than 600 square metres, and evaporate in the dry seasons. It is also unusual for its ability to survive desiccation by burrowing into sand, a process of aestivation, when the pools it lives in periodically evaporate. [2] [8]
The species was first described in 1961 by Gerlof Fokko Mees. [9] This author identified the species as belonging to the Galaxiidae, but the relationship to those species was in doubt. Lepidogalaxias salamandroides was eventually placed among the Osmeriformes as a monotypic arrangement, Lepidogalaxias (Lepidogalaxiidae), in 1991. [8] This placement has been also challenged, and rightly so, as analyses of molecular data have shown that Lepidogalaxias is actually an old and isolated lineage basal to all other Euteleostei. [10] [11] The species is contained in the class Actinopterygii, ray-finned fish, and is sometimes given the taxonomic placements as Galaxiidae of the order Salmoniformes. [12]
It is sometimes named as the mud minnow, [13] [14] long-finned Galaxias, [14] scaled galaxias, [12] [14] or dwarf pencilfish, [14] however mud minnow usually refers to Galaxiella munda . [15] A further list of names refer to L. salamandroides as salamanderfish of Western Australia, West Australian salamanderfish, salamander fish, salamanderfish, and Shannon mudminnow. [3] [8] [14]
Lungfish are freshwater vertebrates belonging to the class Dipnoi. Lungfish are best known for retaining ancestral characteristics within the Osteichthyes, including the ability to breathe air, and ancestral structures within Sarcopterygii, including the presence of lobed fins with a well-developed internal skeleton. Lungfish represent the closest living relatives of the tetrapods. The mouths of lungfish typically bear tooth plates, which are used to crush hard shelled organisms.
The Australian lungfish, also known as the Queensland lungfish, Burnett salmon and barramunda, is the only surviving member of the family Neoceratodontidae. It is one of only six extant lungfish species in the world. Endemic to Australia, the Neoceratodontidae are an ancient family belonging to the class Sarcopterygii, or lobe-finned fishes.
Southwest Australia is a biogeographic region in Western Australia. It includes the Mediterranean-climate area of southwestern Australia, which is home to a diverse and distinctive flora and fauna.
The Galaxiidae are a family of mostly small freshwater fish in the Southern Hemisphere. The majority live in Southern Australia or New Zealand, but some are found in South Africa, southern South America, Lord Howe Island, New Caledonia, and the Falkland Islands. One galaxiid species, the common galaxias, is probably the most widely naturally distributed freshwater fish in the Southern Hemisphere. They are coolwater species, found in temperate latitudes, with only one species known from subtropical habitats. Many specialise in living in cold, high-altitude upland rivers, streams, and lakes.
The common galaxias or inanga is a very widespread Southern Hemisphere fish in the family Galaxiidae. It is a slim, narrow fish with a forked tail and a mottled, spotty pattern, typically about 10 cm (4 in) long when fully grown. It lives in fresh water, but spawns at river mouths and spends the first six months of its life at sea, returning en masse in spring. Its vernacular names include cowfish, jollytail, common jollytail, eel gudgeon, inaka, native trout, pulangi, puye, slippery tarki, spotted minnow, Falklands minnow and whitebait.
Australia has over 5000 described species of fish, a quarter of which are endemic. Seafood and aquaculture are major and highly regulated industries, and fishing for marine and freshwater native fish is popular.
Neochanna is a genus of galaxiid fishes, commonly known as mudfish, which are native to New Zealand and south-eastern Australia.
The Tasmanian mudfish, Neochanna cleaveri, is a small Australian amphidromous fish in the galaxiid family, of the order Osmeriformes.
The common river galaxias or Canterbury galaxias is a galaxiid fish of the genus Galaxias, found only in Canterbury, New Zealand.
Galaxias is a genus of small freshwater fish in the family Galaxiidae, and are frequently referred to as the galaxiids. These highly adaptable fish are typically found at temperate latitudes across the Southern Hemisphere.
Galaxiella is a genus of Australian fish of the family Galaxiidae.
Galaxias fontanus, the Swan galaxias, is a species of fish in the family Galaxiidae. It is endemic to eastern Tasmania, Australia.
Galaxiella munda is a species of fish in the family Galaxiidae. It is endemic to inland waters of southwestern Australia, and known as the Western mud minnow. In 1999 the Mud Minnow was not included in the list of threatened species under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, but is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List.
The black-stripe minnow is a small freshwater species of fish in the family Galaxiidae. It is endemic to southwestern Australia where it is found in slow-running streams, ponds, swamps and ditches.
The western galaxias, also called the western minnow, is a species of fish in the genus Galaxias of small, Southern Hemisphere freshwater fish of the family Galaxiidae. It is endemic to southwestern Australia.
Mud minnow may refer to:
Gerlof Fokko Mees was a Dutch ichthyologist, ornithologist and museum curator. During 1946 to 1949 he took part as a conscript in the military actions to reestablish rule in the Dutch East Indies. During that time he became interested in the avian family Zosteropidae, comprising the white-eyes.
Galaxias tantangara, the stocky galaxias, is a galaxiid of the genus Galaxias, a member of the Mountain Galaxias species complex group of freshwater fish, found in Australia. Only discovered in 2014, the fish is classed as critically endangered, mainly because of being preyed upon by introduced species of trout.
Galaxias terenasus, the roundsnout galaxias, is a galaxiid of the genus Galaxias, a member of the Mountain Galaxias species complex group of freshwater fish, found in Australia.
Galaxiella toourtkoourt, known as the little galaxias, is a species of fish in the family Galaxiidae. It is among the smallest galaxiid species known.
Data related to Lepidogalaxiidae at Wikispecies