The forgotten fish
The native fish in New Zealand’s streams and rivers are as special as the rimu in the forest, but unlike the rimu tree, they are hard to see. Yet New Zealand still has at least 27 species of native freshwater fish, of which 23 are found only here, while more are being discovered. Of these freshwater fish, only the long-finned and short-finned eels reach any great size, although the giant kokopu is known to have reached three kilograms and the now-extinct grayling perhaps two kilograms. The other freshwater fish are much smaller and often overlooked. These fish are secretive, hiding beneath rocks, amongst piles of logs and under overhanging banks. Camouflage patterns help them merge with their background. Often they are only glimpsed as they dart out of sight.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/FORBI20020201.2.28
Bibliographic details
Forest and Bird, Issue 303, 1 February 2002, Page 29
Word Count
132The forgotten fish Forest and Bird, Issue 303, 1 February 2002, Page 29
Using This Item
For material that is still in copyright, Forest & Bird have made it available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC 4.0). This periodical is not available for commercial use without the consent of Forest & Bird. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this magazine please refer to our copyright guide.
Forest & Bird has made best efforts to contact all third-party copyright holders. If you are the rights holder of any material published in Forest & Bird's magazine and would like to discuss this, please contact Forest & Bird at editor@forestandbird.org.nz
Log in