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Neoteny in a Lamprey

Abstract

SPONTANEOUS and artificially induced neoteny are well known in Amphibia, and full sexual maturity appears to be attained by the parr stage of Salmo salar. But, so far as I am aware, neoteny has never been recorded in the cyclostomes. Young1 has directed attention to the fact that some lampreys show a speeding up of the time of sexual maturity relative to the time at which metamorphosis takes place (pædomorphosis), but there are no records in the literature of sexually mature ammocœte larvæ.

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ZANANDREA, G. Neoteny in a Lamprey. Nature 179, 925–926 (1957). https://doi.org/10.1038/179925b0

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