Stella Posted October 8, 2012 Report Share Posted October 8, 2012 Hi guys! long time no post :oops: So I got to the South Island yesterday, and within 12 hours of arriving Caryl and Joe took me spotlighting! It was this teeny shallow stream very close to the beach at White's Bay, near Blenheim, and it was PACKED with banded kokopu! I didn't take many photos, but I did get a couple of these neat mutants: This was the biggest one we (Caryl) caught. I have drawn around the edges of the lower fins to make them more clear. The one with a black line is closer to the size that these fins should be, though it ought to be rounder. What I think caused this was ABRASION on the stones! The water was so very shallow that a fish this size (~15cm, but they can get to 25cm) would have had to power partially out of the water over the stones in order to get anywhere! The edges of the fins were rather thickened, which is what makes me think this was abrasion rather than injury or infection. The dorsal, anal and tail fins were fine, as it is the lower four fins that they 'walk' on. This is a teeny banded, probably was a whitebait a couple of months ago. It didn't look like there was any physical damage, the tail was healthy, just seriously bent! It is possible that this was caused by trematode parasites (there were heaps in some of the other bandeds we caught). Check out this paper about malformations in a related species, the photos are amazing! http://www.eeid.cornell.edu/Trematodes%20in%20fish.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Godly3vil Posted October 8, 2012 Report Share Posted October 8, 2012 Sounds like you guys had a great time, hope you enjoy the S.Island Stella! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stella Posted October 8, 2012 Author Report Share Posted October 8, 2012 Sounds like you guys had a great time, hope you enjoy the S.Island Stella! Thanks! BTW if you or anyone else wants to take me fishing I would be most keen! Native fish, sports fish or coarse fish - I need to learn all about them too for my next book. I am on the east coast till the end of the year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikey Posted October 9, 2012 Report Share Posted October 9, 2012 Hi Stella Cool observation on the fish fins.... reminds me of a human with really tough skin on soles of their feet.... i.e. us when we were kids and didn't have to wear shoes everywhere Thanks for sharing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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