Whitebait facts
Giant kōkopu
Our precious native fish
Whitebait, those tiny, transparent creatures found navigating our streams, are the young of some of New Zealand's precious native fish. Some of the species you are likely to catch in your whitebait net are inanga, kōaro, banded kōkopu, giant kōkopu, shortjaw kōkopu, smelt, bullies and juvenile eels. The first five are considered 'true' whitebait.
The Galaxiidae family
The five main species of whitebait-inanga, kōaro, banded kōkopu, giant kōkopu, and shortjaw kōkopu-belong to the Galaxiidae family, which was named after the Milky Way galaxy, as the very first species described was sprinkled with dazzling spots.
Habitat
Although galaxiid species are found in many places in the Southern Hemisphere, the giant, shortjaw and banded kōkopu only exist in New Zealand. Our galaxiids are generally nocturnal and very good at hiding. They love bushy streams, where they find both shelter and food, with a rain of insects falling from the overhanging plants.
Breeding
The main breeding season for our galaxiids is autumn. Inanga migrate downstream to estuaries and lay their eggs among plants and grasses, whereas kōaro and kōkopu stay where they are and lay their eggs on leaf litter and forest plants. The eggs stay out of water for several weeks, and need good plant cover to keep moist. They hatch when re-immersed, either by spring tides (for inanga) or floods (for kōaro and kōkopu). The larvae then float out to sea where they live and grow over winter, migrating back upstream as whitebait in spring.
Illustration showing lifecycle of whitebait
View a larger version of this illustration (JPEG, 165K)
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