| Short-headed lamprey | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Petromyzontida |
| Order: | Petromyzontiformes |
| Family: | Mordaciidae |
| Genus: | Mordacia |
| Species: | M. mordax
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| Binomial name | |
| Mordacia mordax (J. Richardson, 1846)
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| Synonyms | |
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Mordacia mordax, known as the short-headed lamprey, Australian lamprey or Murray lamprey, is a species of Mordacia that lives in south-eastern Australia and Tasmania. Mordaciidae is made up of three species: M. praedox, M. mordax, and M. lapicida.[1] M. mordax is a relatively rare, parasitic vertebrate and, along with the hagfishes, is part of the only surviving group of jawless organisms throughout vertebrate evolution.[2] It has a thin eel-like body up to 50 cm (20 in) long, with two low dorsal fins on the back half. The skin is blue-gray or brown. Its eyes are small, and located on the top of its head.
- ^ Collin, S; Hart, N; Wallace, K; Shand, J; Potter, I (2004). "Vision in the southern hemisphere lamprey Mordacia mordax: Spatial distribution, spectral absorption characteristics, and optical sensitivity of a single class of retinal photoreceptor" (PDF). Visual Neuroscience. 21 (5): 765–773. doi:10.1017/S0952523804215103. PMID 15683562. S2CID 11947584.
- ^ Conlon; Wang; Potter (2001). "The structure of Mordacia mordax insulin supports the monophyly of the Petromyzontiformes and an ancient divergence of Mordaciidae and Geotriidae". Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology, Part B. 129 (1): 65–71. doi:10.1016/S1096-4959(00)00365-1. PMID 11337250.