New Zealand Freshwater Fish

DSC_7245 Pouched lamprey (Geotria australis) head of an ammocoete larva measuring 100mm, and in the process of transforming into a macropthalmia when this photo was taken in early February 2014. These filter feeding larvae live buried in the mud for the first four years or so of their life, before transforming over a period of two months into macropthalmia, and eventually migrating downstream to the sea. Okuti River, Canterbury *

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DSC_7245 Pouched lamprey (Geotria australis) head of an ammocoete larva measuring 100mm, and in the process of transforming into a macropthalmia when this photo was taken in early February 2014. These filter feeding larvae live buried in the mud for the first four years or so of their life, before transforming over a period of two months into macropthalmia, and eventually migrating downstream to the sea. Okuti River, Canterbury *

ammocoete transforming macropthalmia DSC 7245 Pouched lamprey pouched Geotria australis lamprey