Alpine galaxias
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| Alpine galaxias | ||||||||||||||||
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| Galaxias paucispondylus Stokell, 1938 |
The alpine river galaxias, Galaxias paucispondylus, is a galaxiid of the genus Galaxias, found only in mid to high altitude streams flowing from the Southern Alps of New Zealand. It grows to a length of up to 11 cm.
Alpine galaxias are speckled olive-green over a light brown base. The single large dorsal fin is rounded, and set back two thirds of the body length, the anal fin a little further back. The caudal fin is large and slightly forked. Like all galaxiids it lacks scales and has a thick, leathery skin covered with mucus.
Alpine galaxias have 16 caudal and seven pelvic fin rays compared to 15 and six, respectively, in dwarf galaxias, as the two species' habitats do overlap.
They are non-diadromous and therefore do not have a marine phase and are not part of the whitebait catch.
[edit] References
- "Galaxias paucispondylus". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. March 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
- NIWA June 2006
