I saw a grayling!

[Stella]

The only (known) extinct freshwater fish in New Zealand (so far). :tears:

They started declining pretty quickly after Europeans started settling here, but it is uncertain what caused the decline. Trout, exotic disease, and land-use changes are variously blamed, but the decline happened in untouched places as well. There was concern about their decline from the 1870s and the last sighting was in the 1920s or 30s. In 1956 they were granted full legal protection, meaning that if you see one you cannot molest it in any way. To this day it remains the only native fish with such protection. The other freshwater fish with decent non-molestation orders are introduced salmoniid sportsfish... :an!gry

This one was around 30cm (the tail has disintegrated), collected prior to 1908 in the Waikato.

They are basically large smelt, in the same family but a different genus. There is an Australian species in the same genus that still exists, and much lifecycle stuff is presumed/confirmed through them. Like smelt they grow at sea then migrate into freshwater in early summer to finish maturing before spawning in late autumn and winter. The smallest recorded in freshwater was 175mm and they commonly grew to ~300mm. It is unsure if they died after spawning or returned to sea, but there were certainly times of the year when they could not be found. The tiny larvae were washed to sea after they hatch. They also apparently smelled like cucumber.

One thing that struck me was how deep and solid the body was, but the head was very fine and slender, the gape looked wide but the actual jaws were quite narrow. I am more used to kokopu with broad heads and mouths that could ingest anything.

I really didn't know much about them before I met these pickled ones. In hindsight I am quite pleased - I could make observations without knowing what to look for. This photo shows how the lower jaw tucked into the upper jaw. That fringing on the upper jaw is actually a row of long, blunt, close-spaced teeth which close against a horny pad on the outside of the lower jaw. This is apparently a specialisation for scraping algae off rocks, an activity which apparently left quite distinctive marks on the rocks. They also probably at water plants and mosses (and thus a lot of by-catch of invertebrates). It was also possibly to take them with small trout-flies and light tackle in the evenings, so they also actively hunted inverts.

Like smelt they were a schooling fish, apparently hanging out in incredibly large schools at times, loitering in deep pools by day then moving into shallower water at night. Maori caught them by driving them downstream into large nets or trenches where they could be trapped. There are records that they not only did not use hooks for grayling (upokokoro) but actively discouraged others from using them.

I had to

It was at this point that the curator realised JUST how special it was for me to be seeing these pickled fish!

There are about 20 pickled grayling in existence. These three were in the Auckland Museum and are kept in a safe, they are that special and irreplaceable. I wanted to photograph them for my next book, which will be A Photographic Guide to Freshwater Fishes of New Zealand in this series http://www.newhollandpublishers.co.nz/list.php?cat=4&sub_cat=14 :happy1:

[blueether]

show off

:nfs:

I would go with the theory of an introduced disease with trout, this is what is theorised on their decline/decimation in Oz isn't it?

[F15hguy]

lucky bugger

I was fascinated by their story when I was a wee one

[Stella]

From what I was reading there are stories of dead and diseased Australian grayling floating downstream, but it couldn't be excluded that they were normal post-spawning deaths or post-spawning infections due to loss of condition. Who knows.

It would be cool if one day there are able to 'reintroduce' the Australian grayling here. Could possibly be useful for cleaning up algae and waterweed.

[Zev]

I remember reading somewhere when I was doing a bit of hunting of images for these for someone's tee shirt prints that they were raked out of streams and thrown on the fields for fertiliser :evil:

[Stella]

I still love that tshirt! :happy2:

[cichlidcentral]

The title of this thread made me miss a heart beat! too Cruel :facepalm:

I always wondered in reply to the isolated populations becoming disappearing was to blame in trout pheromones. whether like an Inanga who will follow any other Galaxid smell upstream, the trout pheromones were more attractive than their own, thus (assuming their was some decent movement in their marine phase) 'leading the lams to slaughter'.

I'm with you on getting some auzy ones over here too, makes more sense than good old grass carp, though I guess hard with such limited populations over there...

Will be cool to see them in your book!

[Mikey]

mmmmmm, thought provoking. :smln:

Thanks for sharing Stella :thup:

[CodKing]

I would like to donate a jar large enough to house the fish, he doesn't look comfortable.