Migration season of whitebait of giant kokopu, Galaxias argentus

Sampling of whitebait from the migrations in a series of West Coast and Southland rivers (Heaphy, Orowaiti, Buller, Hokitika, Wanganui, Okarito, Mataura) showed that whitebait of the giant kokopu migrate late in the spring, beginning to enter rivers during early November and continuing well through December. Amongst 70 whitebait samples containing nearly 9000 whitebait there were only 231 giant kokopu whitebait, all of these taken later than 4 November. All but 4 of the giant kokopu whitebait present in samples were taken from the Buller and Hokitika Rivers; this is due in large measure to the fact that it was from these two rivers that most samples taken during November and December were taken.