Cran's bully
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| iCrans bully | ||||||||||||||
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| Gobiomorphus basalis (Gray, 1842) |
The Crans bully, Gobiomorphus breviceps, is a sleeper of the genus Gobiomorphus, found in most rivers in the North Island of New Zealand. Their length is up to 9 cm.
Crans bully is another non-diadromous member of the Eleotridae family. They are stocky little fish that are hard to distinguish from common and upland bullies, whose distributions widely overlap that of Crans bully. On mature males, the top edge of the first dorsal fin is a bright pinkish-orange.
Crans bully is rarer northeast of Lake Taupo, this being thought to be a long-lasting effect of the Taupo eruption over 1800 years ago; as Crans bully has no marine phase, their ability to colonize new river systems is limited, and once they are gone from an area it is unlikely they will re-colonize on their own.
With no requirement to go to the sea, the Crans bully is most common at sites at mid altitudes and some distance inland. It dwells in stony rivers and streams and does not establish lake populations. Breeding behaviour is similar to the other bullies, with the male establishing a territory, and remaining to guard the eggs after they are laid.
[edit] References
- "Gobiomorphus basalis". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. March 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
- NIWA June 2006
