Rare 'Vegan Dracula' Lamprey Appears 870 Miles Beyond Its Known Range

In 2022, Luke Carpenter-Bundhoo, while electrofishing a creek on K’gari, made an unusual discovery. The eel-like creature in the water bore the characteristics of a lamprey, but lampreys were not typically found in tropical waters. The island, situated 870 miles north of the Australian brook lamprey’s known range, posed a puzzling question for Carpenter-Bundhoo, who was studying how Australia’s Black Summer bushfires had affected the island’s ecosystems.

Upon further investigation, the lamprey was identified as the Australian brook lamprey (Mordacia praecox), a species not previously known to inhabit truly tropical waters. This species, despite its tooth-lined mouth, does not feed as most lampreys do, instead filtering microscopic algae as a sightless larva and reproducing shortly after metamorphosis.

Recognizing the ecological significance of this finding, a new Queensland government grant enabled Carpenter-Bundhoo and Queensland government scientist David Moffatt to map the lamprey’s range and determine if two smaller lampreys found in the state are new species. This research could expand Australia’s known lamprey count from three to five and help protect the endangered species.