New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts

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Distribution and freshwater residence of Stokeil's smelt, Stokellia anisodon (Stokell), in the South Island, New Zealand

MARTIN L. BONNETT

Freshwater Fisheries Centre Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries P. O. Box 8324, Riccarton Christchurch, New Zealand

Abstract Stdceirssmeltarerestrictedtosomerivers on the east coast of the South Island, New Zealand, mainly in the Canterbury region. Migrations of Stokeil's smelt into fresh water occur mostly from October to March. Analysis of samples taken from the Rakaia River at intervals during this period suggests that there are successive migrations of maturing fish, which continue to develop sexually during freshwater residence:. The duration of residence could not be determined, but the presence of females containing relatively small eggs implies that some smelt remain in fresh water for weeks, or even months. Spawning occurs throughout the season, as ripe and spent fish were found in all the samples examined.

Keywords Stokeil's smelt; Stokellia anisodon; common smelt; Retropinna retropinna; spawning; distribution; New Zealand

New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 1992, Vol. 26: The Royal Society of New Zealand 1992
Received 17 September 1991; accepted 6 March 1992

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (427K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

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