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Browse the 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand
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Graphic: An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand 1966.

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This information was published in 1966 in An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock. It has not been corrected and will not be updated.

Up-to-date information can be found elsewhere in Te Ara.

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KOKOPU

Kokopu (Galaxias fasciatus) is a sluggish native fish found under stones and around sunken logs in most “bush-type” streams throughout New Zealand. It is dull brown, variously marked when adult with undulating pale streaks, especially towards the tail (hence often called the “banded galaxias”). They grow to about a foot in length and lack scales. The “giant galaxias” (G. alepichotus) is a related species, blackish in colour with distinct horseshoe markings, which may grow to 18 in. in length.

Sometimes the banded and giant galaxias are called “native trout”, but they are not related to trout and the former names are more appropriate.

by Lawrence James Paul, B.SC., Fisheries Division, Marine Department, Wellington.

Co-creator

Lawrence James Paul, B.SC., Fisheries Division, Marine Department, Wellington.