NIWA Atlas of NZ Freshwater Fishes

To find out more about the New Zealand freshwater fishes, the Atlas of NZ Freshwater Fishes provides an overview of the freshwater fish found in New Zealand, fact sheets for each species and links to other resources.

These pages provide an overview of the freshwater fish found in New Zealand, fact sheets for each individual species and links to other resources.

The fact sheets provide some information on each species and a map of their known, and expected (i.e. modelled) geographic distributions. Many species spend part of their life at sea and then migrate upriver, but how far they penetrate upriver  varies greatly. A plot of the known distribution relative to the distance upriver and altitude is provided to illustrate where species can be expected to occur.

To access and download information on individual species, go to the Fish Finder and select the species from the menus. If you want more information on New Zealand freshwater fish fauna, a bibliography of key publications is provided along with links to other websites that deal with New Zealand's freshwater fish fauna.

Related links

  • Galaxias paucispondylus - Alpine galaxias

    Alpine galaxias

    Alpine galaxias
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    Freshwater Eels

    FRESHWATER EELS (Anguillidae) Freshwater eels occur in Europe, on the east coast of North America, and throughout the eastern Pacific and Indian Oceans. There are about 16 species in total. Most New Zealanders are familiar with this fish and know what eels look like. However, not everyone is aware that there are two distinct Anguillidae species native to this country, the longfin eel and the shortfin eel. A third eel species, the Australian longfin eel, has recently been discovered in the Waikato River, and may have colonised other river systems in New Zealand.
  • Atlantic salmon

    Atlantic salmon
  • Australian longfin eel - Anguilla reinhardtii

    Australian longfin eel

    Australian longfin eel
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    Fish Finder

    Click on a family, species or common name to learn more about that fish and its distribution. Please note: our fish finder database is undergoing maintenance and updating, so some species information may not be available through these links at present.
  • Banded kokopu

    Banded kokopu
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    Key to freshwater fish families in New Zealand

  • Galaxias macronasus

    Bignose galaxias

    Bignose galaxias
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    Glossary

    Some of the terms used in this atlas may be unfamiliar to amateur biologists, and so I provide this glossary.
  • Rhombosolea retiaria

    Black flounder

    Black flounder
  • Black mudfish

    Black mudfish

    Black mudfish
  • Gobiomorphus hubbsi

    Bluegill bully

    Bluegill bully
  • Brook char - Salvelinus fontinalis

    Brook char

    Brook char
  • Neochanna apoda

    Brown mudfish

    Brown mudfish
  • Salmo trutta - Brown trout

    Brown trout

    Brown trout
  • Galaxias vulgaris - Canterbury galaxias

    Canterbury galaxias

    Canterbury galaxias
  • Neochanna burrowsius - Canterbury mudfish

    Canterbury mudfish

    Canterbury mudfish
  • Ameiurus nebulosus - Brown bullhead catfish

    Brown bullhead catfish

    Brown bullhead catfish
  • Neochanna rekohua - Chatham mudfish

    Chatham mudfish

    Chatham mudfish
  • Oncorhynchus tshawytscha - Chinook salmon

    Chinook salmon

    Chinook salmon
  • Gobiomorphus cotidianus - Common bully

    Common bully

    Common bully
  • Retropinna retropinna - Common smelt

    Common smelt

    Common smelt
  • Gobiomorphus basalis - Cran's bully

    Cran's bully

    Cran's bully
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    Carps

    CARPS (Cyprinidae) The Cyprinidae family is one of the largest of the freshwater fish families with about 1450 known species. None are native to New Zealand, but several species have been introduced here. Generally carp have large scales, small barbels around their mouth, and no adipose fin. There are many exceptions to this, however, as might be expected in such a large family.
  • Parioglossus marginalis - Dart goby

    Dart goby

    Dart goby
  • Galaxias pullus - Dusky galaxias

    Dusky galaxias

    Dusky galaxias
  • Galaxias divergens - Dwarf galaxias

    Dwarf galaxias

    Dwarf galaxias
  • Galaxias gracilis - Dwarf inanga

    Dwarf inanga

    Dwarf inanga
  • Galaxias eldoni - Eldon's galaxias

    Eldon's galaxias

    Eldon's galaxias
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    Bullies

    Bullies (Eleotridae)
    Redfin Bully
    Members of the bully family occupy marine and fresh waters in the tropical Pacific and southeast Asia. There is just one freshwater genera in New Zealand, Gobiomorphus, with seven species: Gobiomorphus alpinus (Tarndale bully) Gobiomorphus basalis (Crans bully) Gobiomorphus breviceps (upland bully) Gobiomorphus cotidianus (common bully) Gobiomorphus gobioides (giant bully) Gobiomorphus hubbsi (bluegill bully) Gobiomorphus huttoni (redfin bully) Bullies have rounded tails, two dorsal fins, a blunt head, and are quite stocky.
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    Estuarine triplefin

    Estuarine triplefin
  • Galaxias depressiceps - Flathead galaxias

    Flathead galaxias

    Flathead galaxias
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    Galaxiidae

    Whitebait and mudfish (Galaxiidae) The Galaxiidae family is the largest family of freshwater fishes in New Zealand; there are about 26 species present here which have been divided into two genera, the galaxiids (Galaxias spp.) and the mudfish (Neochanna spp.). Galaxiidae occur throughout the southern hemisphere - in New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Chile, and Argentina. The family contains some species that are widespread and familiar to most New Zealanders, e.g. the 5 whitebait species, but other species are less well known with very restricted distributions, e.g.
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    Mackinaw

    Mackinaw (Salvelinus namaycush)
    This member of the Salmonidae family occurs naturally throughout the north of the United States and in Canada and Alaska. A single importation of eggs occurred in 1906, and these fish were destined for Lake Kaniere on the west coast. However, when their transport ran into difficulties crossing Arthurs Pass, the fish were dumped into Lakes Grasmere and Pearson in the Waimakariri River catchment.
  • Oncorhynchus nerka - Sockeye salmon

    Sockeye salmon

    Sockeye salmon
  • Galaxias maculatus - Inanga

    Inanga

    Inanga
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    Other Poeciliidae

    Other live bearers (Phallocerus caudimaculatus, Poecilia latipinna, P. reticulata, Xiphophorus helleri) In addition to mosquitofish, there are four other species of Poeciliidae in New Zealand. As all of these have a very restricted distribution, they have been combined for this discussion. They are all popular aquarium species (who has not heard of the guppy) and probably came to be released by aquarists either tired of looking after their fish or eager to establish feral populations in New Zealand.
  • Galaxias gollumoides - Gollum galaxias

    Gollum galaxias

    Gollum galaxias
  • Galaxias brevipinnis - Koaro

    Koaro

    Koaro
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    Poeciliidae

    LIVE BEARERS (Poeciliidae) As the common name of this family implies, the Poeciliidae are characterised by giving birth to live young. Other family characteristics include a single soft-rayed dorsal fin and no lateral line. On male poeciliids, the anal fin has evolved into a structure known as a gonopodium that is used to transfer sperm bundles to the female fish.
  • Stokellia anisodon - Stokell's smelt

    Stokell's smelt

    Stokell's smelt
  • Cyprinus carpio - Koi carp| common carp

    Koi/amur carp | common carp

    Koi/amur carp | common carp
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    Salmonidae

    Salmon, Trout and Char (Salmonidae) The Salmonidae family is native to the Northern Hemisphere, but several species have been introduced to New Zealand. Some of these species, particularly brown and rainbow trout, have established very successfully here and support New Zealand’s reputation as an angling Eldorado.
  • Gobiomorphus alpinus - Tarndale bully

    Tarndale bully

    Tarndale bully
  • Geotria australis - Lamprey

    Lamprey

    Lamprey
  • Tinca tinca - Tench

    Tench

    Tench
  • Anguilla dieffenbachii - Longfin eel

    Longfin eel

    Longfin eel
  • Cheimarrichthys fosteri - Torrentfish

    Torrentfish

    Torrentfish
  • Galaxias cobitinis - Lowland longjaw galaxias

    Lowland longjaw galaxias

    Lowland longjaw galaxias
  • Gobiomorphus breviceps - Upland bully

    Upland bully

    Upland bully
  • Neochanna heleios - Northland mudfish

    Northland mudfish

    Northland mudfish
  • Aldrichetta forsteri - Yelloweye mullet

    Yelloweye mullet

    Yelloweye mullet
  • Leuciscus idus - Orfe | golden orfe| ide

    Orfe | golden orfe | ide

    Orfe | golden orfe | ide
  • Galaxias prognathus - Upland longjaw galaxias

    Upland longjaw galaxias

    Upland longjaw galaxias
  • Perca fluviatilis - Perch | redfin perch

    Perch | redfin perch

    Perch | redfin perch
  • Gambusia affinis - Gambusia

    Gambusia

    Gambusia
  • Oncorhynchus mykiss - Rainbow trout

    Rainbow trout

    Rainbow trout
  • Gobiomorphus gobioides - Giant bully

    Giant bully

    Giant bully
  • Gobiomorphus huttoni - Redfin bully

    Redfin bully

    Redfin bully
  • Galaxias argenteus - Giant kokopu

    Giant kokopu

    Giant kokopu
  • Galaxias anomalus - Roundhead galaxias

    Roundhead galaxias

    Roundhead galaxias
  • Carassius auratus - Goldfish

    Goldfish

    Goldfish
  • Ctenopharyngodon idella - Grass carp

    Grass carp

    Grass carp
  • Anguilla australis - Shortfin eel

    Shortfin eel

    Shortfin eel
  • Galaxias postvectis

    Shortjaw kokopu

    Shortjaw kokopu
  • Prototroctes oxyrhynchus - Grayling

    Grayling

    Grayling
  • Hypophthalmichthys molitrix

    Silver carp

    Silver carp
  • Mugil cephalus - Grey mullet

    Grey mullet

    Grey mullet