PlanetCatfish.com

I've been really looking forward to my first post in this forum, and I hope it will be the first of many.

So, my first official NZ collecting trip was at the Garry River, a tributary of the Ashley River in Canterbury. You can see the location if you enter "Hayland Road, Canterbury, New Zealand" into Google Maps (use the "terrain" or "satellite" setting).

The Kit:


Collecting bucket (must be watertight)
Trout fishing landing net (need to get/make a good push net though)
Photo tank - a clear refrigerator door compartment (won't break, but not very clear)
Electronic pH and conductivity meters
Waterproof paper and pencil
Scissors
GPS
Preserving jar
MS-222 (fish anaesthetic)
Formalin (10%)
Sample tubes filled with 100% ethanol for DNA samples
Sandfly repellent (DEET)
Rod and reel for larger and more delicious fishes
Camera (was hard to include this in the photo )

Location One:
Small, shallow, steep gradient stream. Boulder/gravel/sand substrate.
Temperature: 12.0C
Conductivity: 115us
pH: 7.8






I was very excited with my first fish, as it looked like a weird galaxiid in the net. Unfortunately it was a non-native brown trout (Salmo trutta), and too small to eat! This was the only fish caught at this location.

Location Two:
Low gradient braided riffle/pool stream. Stones/gravel/sand substrate.
Temperature: 13.6C
Conductivity: 121us
pH: 7.6




Looks shallow, but was actually well over 1m deep under the tree.


At last, a native fish. Upland bully (Gobiomorphus breviceps), female.


Head shot of same fish. Gobiomorphus belong to the family Eleotridae (sleepers, or sleeper "gobies").


Head shots of male (right) and female (left). Males have much more bulbous heads and brighter colours.


Again, male (right) and female (left). These were found under stones in shallow water.


Male


Male


Male


Male


These young galaxiids were found in deeper water under the tree. I think they are Galaxias maculatus, but I need to do some more research on that, as some features don't seen to match.


The mesh of my net was too big for these guys, but luckily I managed to hang on to some. They were midwater swimming, but associated with the cover of the tree branches/roots.


Also of interest - a big old fishing spider (Dolomedes sp.) found under a rock.

These are very nice and interesting pictures.
I really don't know anything about freshwaterfish from NZ.
The Gobies are stunning!

Thanks for sharing!

whoa..the spider looks huge and frightening!

the fish pictures were great and the scenery and I loved the picture of all your supplies.
Very cool!


Patty

Excellent work - i look forward to seeing how the thread develops over time

Great photos Rupert. Is G. maculatus still thought to be the species also found in Chile and Argentina?

Wonderful. Already looking forward to more (as suggested by the pt 1).
-Shane

Carp37 wrote:Great photos Rupert. Is G. maculatus still thought to be the species also found in Chile and Argentina?

It appears to have a large distribution in Catalog of Fishes.

CoF wrote:Distribution: Southwestern Pacidic, Oceania and, southern South America: Argentina, Australia, Chatham Islands, Chile, Falkland Islands, Lord Howe Island, New Zealand. Habitat: freshwater, brackish, marine.

--
Mats

Thanks for the comments. Hopefully in a few weeks I will get over to the West Coast and see what turns up there!

Carp37 wrote:Great photos Rupert. Is G. maculatus still thought to be the species also found in Chile and Argentina?

Yup, that's the one. A pretty odd distribution indeed! As they are diadromous, I think the ocean currents distribute the larvae all over the Southern Hemisphere.

Hi Rupert,
Looks like fun.
I also like the gobies and the Brown Trout parr. Probably need a chiller to keep them very long in tanks, I would think.
You should add a dual pole seine to your collecting equipment and turn over rocks up stream from it to survey the aquatic insect populations while you are at it. I've used them a lot for collecting to see which insects were most numerous during my fly fishing outings. I usually catch a few Cottus species of sculpins when I do that, too. They are probably northern hemisphere equivalents to those Gobies as far as the niche they occupy.
I'll be following your reports and happy collecting.

Sweeeeet, Rupert! I have a friend that would pass out at the sight. He loves to breed Goby's. With the Galaxiids, could there be some sexual dimorphism? Just a thought. Look forward to your next adventure!
Amanda

Excellent to read, thanks for posting. It occurs to me that even though this is a catfish site, so many of us just really like all this stuff, cats or not.

Jools

Look forward to more posts, thankyou. I spent a month in NZ over a decade ago it is a stunning country and full of interesting wildlife. Near the Homer tunnel I had the wipers on my hire car attacked by a bird who seemed to have a craving for rubber!

catmar wrote:Near the Homer tunnel I had the wipers on my hire car attacked by a bird who seemed to have a craving for rubber!

Ah, the cheeky kea. Fantastic birds. The world's only alpine parrot. Here's a photo I took, not far from the Homer Tunnel actually.

Jools wrote:It occurs to me that even though this is a catfish site, so many of us just really like all this stuff, cats or not.

No catfish in NZ I'm afraid, apart from some introduced in the North Island.

racoll wrote:Ah, the cheeky kea. Fantastic birds. The world's only alpine parrot.

You're forgetting the Norwegian Blue...

racoll wrote:No catfish in NZ I'm afraid, apart from some introduced

Ameiurus nebulosus

in the North Island.

Yes, I think one of them made an appearance in Lord of the Rings being eaten by Gollum.

Jools

racoll wrote:Ah, the cheeky kea. Fantastic birds. The world's only alpine parrot. Here's a photo I took, not far from the Homer Tunnel actually.

Did anyone watch 'Last chance to see' with Stephen Fry last year? The sequence at the end of the Kea program where Mark Cawardine has one trumphantly sh****g the back of his head is one of the funniest things I have seen for a long time. You can find it on YouTube if you missed it.

Ooops, that was a Kakapo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T1vfsHYiKY

RickE wrote:Did anyone watch 'Last chance to see' with Stephen Fry last year? The sequence at the end of the Kea program where Mark Cawardine has one trumphantly sh****g the back of his head is one of the funniest things I have seen for a long time. You can find it on YouTube if you missed it.

Ooops, that was a Kakapo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T1vfsHYiKY

Ha ha. Classic.

Some very detailed shots there, that detailed when it came to the spider part, wasn't expecting that and nearly threw the laptop lol. I'm not the world's biggest fan of spider. Look forward to seeing more pics )hopefully not spiders

Unique feathering on the chest of the kea. Draws your eyes in. Great photo, with the tilt of the head. Checking you out, too.
Amanda

If you ever get the chance to read the original "Last Chance To See" book by Douglas Adams, do it. It's in my top 5 and, for such a successful author, by far his poorest seller. It manages to be hilarious, tragic and informative all at the same time. Pure genius.

Jools

Jools wrote:If you ever get the chance to read the original "Last Chance To See" book by Douglas Adams, do it. It's in my top 5 and, for such a successful author, by far his poorest seller. It manages to be hilarious, tragic and informative all at the same time. Pure genius.

Jools

Only a fiver from Amazon.

Loved the gobies btw.

Nice photos and especially nice Upland Bullies.

If you are travelling as far as Auckland (well Warkworth actually) you are welcome to visit me at Mahurangi Technical Institute. We breed a number of species of NZ native freshwater fish and have in the past exported some to the aquarium trade in Europe.

We operate as a fish farm and a teaching/research institute and maintain a large collection of live natives. We sell mostly to restoration projects but also to the local aquarium trade.

My mobile phone no if you want to visit (or if any readers want more info) <removed> and email <removed>.

[Mod edit: Removed direct contact information - if anyone wants to get in contact with kokopu, then you can use the PM etc buttons on the right-hand side of the post - leaving information in an open forum is likely to lead to them being "harvested" by spammers... --Mats]

Hi kokopu.

I'd be most interested in hearing about your native breeding project at the institute.

As Mats said, its best to PM your contact details to me (less spam that way!).

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Loved the Gobies Rupert. They have to be the most underestimated group of fish.

And I am hoping Part 1 extends soon.....

Practical fishkeeping are running an article on NZ fish next month, that would be the June issue (I think). Maybe we'll see the Gobies!

catmar wrote:Maybe we'll see the Gobies!

I think we will

Nice article, couldn't PFK have been talked into four pages though?

And the frustration is, I've a cold tank ready and waiting for Gobies, the uplands would have been perfect.

Hi Racoll.

Have you tried any of the Ellesmere tributaries ?

lots of smelt, whitebait, small flounder, eels, shrimp (heaps of mysis shrimp after dark)and bullies.

I made a trip to the irwell saturday (aborted duck hunting trip) and collected 4 different plants, lots of nitella, a myriophyllum, and 2 I havent identified yet. didnt see much fish life but its usually there.

Whitebait season starts in amonth or so, i usually get a lot of assorted bycatch in the waimak as well, have managed to keep whitebait and shrimp in unheated tanks in my fishroom for just over a year.

Awesome photos of the catfish i really enjoyed it.Great work.

It sounds like a great trip. Sounds like one because I cant see the pics!!!

Hudson...I can see them fine, they are still on the thread.

Birger