NANFA-- RE: Aussie lungfish

Nicholas J. Zarlinga (njz_at_clevelandmetroparks.com)
Mon, 22 Apr 2002 12:54:06 -0400

For pictures of larval Neoceratodus forsteri (Australian Lungfish), check
out www.lungfishbreeders.com. In 1968, our two lungfish bred at the now
defunct Cleveland Aquarium but I don't have any pictures handy. As far as I
know, this was the only captive breeding of this species outside of
Australia. As for the coelocanth, I haven't bred them yet so I can't tell
you:-). They are supposed to be ovoviviparous which would mean that the
hatchlings should be a bit further along in their development so I would
imagine that they would not have external gills. There was a great little
article a few months back in one of the aquarium magazines about the life
cycle.

Nick Zarlinga
Aquarium Biologist
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo
216-661-6500 ex 4485

"Fish worship... is it wrong??" (Ray Troll)

On Monday, April 22, 2002 9:27 AM, Dave Neely [SMTP:rheopresbe_at_hotmail.com]
wrote:
> Pete, Chris, et. al. ...
>
> >You have to be referring here to Lepidosiren, the Neotropical >Lungfish,
> >but other than that the Polypteridae have external gills >when young.
>
> Guess this was too easy...
>
> Most basal sarcopterygiians (the lineage including us!) have external
gills
> as larvae. This includes both the South American (Lepidosiren) and
African
> (Protopterus) lungfishes, the bichirs (Polypterus) and reedfish
> (Erpetoichthys), as well as most amphibians (at least those that don't
have
> direct development...).
>
> In other words, from a cladistic perspective, we're all just fish...
> (Casper, this explains a LOT!)
>
> There's a couple strange exceptions - the Australian lungfish - a
broadcast
> spawner in which presumably the larvae have direct development (anyone
else
> out there know what these critters look like as larvae?). Coelacanths are
> ovoviparous (eggs hatch inside, and larvae are maintained inside the
female
> during development). Further, they apparently maintain developing larvae
for
> up to 3 years (at least in Latimeria chalumnae)!
>
> cheers,
> Dave
------
> /"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
> / reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
> / Association"
> / This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes
Association
> / nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the
word
> / subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email
to
> / nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
> / nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead.
> / For more information about NANFA, visit our web page,
http://www.nanfa.org
/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
/"Unless stated otherwise, comments made on this list do not necessarily
/ reflect the beliefs or goals of the North American Native Fishes
/ Association"
/ This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes Association
/ nanfa_at_aquaria.net. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get help, send the word
/ subscribe, unsubscribe, or help in the body (not subject) of an email to
/ nanfa-request_at_aquaria.net. For a digest version, send the command to
/ nanfa-digest-request_at_aquaria.net instead.
/ For more information about NANFA, visit our web page, http://www.nanfa.org