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Newbie with a ?: Where to find natives in Invercargill?


caspermia

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Ben you should have asked a week ago! I have just finished a quick circuit of Southland (and I must say it is lovely! And oddly the coast is like Northland)

I saw inanga and bandeds under bridges near the Waituna wetland, southern flathead galaxias near The Key, and gollum galaxias and upland bullies in some ponds near Mandeville. Quite random places though.

According to the freshwater fish database, you should be able to find these species not too far from Invercargill:

inanga, banded and giant kokopu,

common, giant, redfin, upland and bluegill bully

gollum galaxias,

torrentfish, flounder, common smelt, both eels

Go forth and conquer! ;)

As for places... no idea, start looking ;P

Small streams with forest cover and a variety of flow and substrate types are good places to start.

During the day take a hand net, place it in the water below rocks and lift them, sweeping any fish underneath into the net. Repeat until bored or you catch something. (It does work, but can take a while, depending on the density of the fish. At The Key I caught a sum total of three fish)

If the surface is not too broken go at night with a strong torch (and a friend for safety). When you see a fish sitting on the substrate, quietly slip one net in front of it, then use a stick or another net to shoo the fish in.

If there are no fishy locals here, try DOC or the regional council for good streams to try, I am pretty sure they have some good fishy people I just can't remember any names. Though after your first few expeditions you quickly learn what to look for in a stream, and it becomes easier to explore elsewhere.

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I just came across this, from McDowall's New Zealand Freshwater Fishes: An Historical and Ecological Biogeography (2010)

Site species richness of diadromous species in rivers flowing into Foveaux Strait is comparatively low. Diadromous species like banded kokopu, koaro, torrentfish, bluegill and giant bullies are at best sparse and sporadic in these rivers. This applies to most freshwater fish families, and may relate to recruitment problems for diadromous species associated with strong oceanic currents that sweep from the west through Foveaux Strait
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