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New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts


Habitat and interspecific relationships of the Canterbury mudfish, Neochanna burrowsius (Salmoniformes: Galaxiidae)

G. A. Eldon

Fisheries Research Division, Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries, Private Bag, Christchurch, New Zealand

Abstract Neochanna burrowsius (Phillipps) inhabits some streams at low altitudes between latitudes 43°15'S and 44°55'S in Canterbury, New Zealand. Some habitats contain almost no open water because of concealing vegetation; other? have large expanses of open, impounded water. The true habitat appears to be very slow flowing, winding, swampy streams that contain deep pools capable of storing water for long periods if flow ceases. Land drainage may have eliminated this mudfish from some places, but it has adapted to man-modified conditions in others, and may have increased in numbers in recent years. Ability to sometimes survive drought stems from its adaptation to habitats subject to low dissolved oxygen levels; there is no preparation for aestiyation. Usually no other fish species are associated with it in the temporary waters it sometimes inhabits, but Gobiomorphus breviceps, G. coti-dianus, Anguilla australis, A. dieffenbachii, Galaxias maculatus, and G. vulgaris are native fishes sometimes found in association with it in permanent waters. Salmo trutta and Perca fluviatilis are exotic species that have been found in the same waters as N. burrowsius. It has been found in the stomachs of eels, trout, and perch.

New ^ealand Journal of Marine & Freshwater Research, 1979, 13(1): 111-119.
Received 10 October 1977; revision received 20 November 1978. Fisheries Research Division Publication 349

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (1272K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)


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