The Chatham Islands have only 11 recorded species of freshwater fish. Only one is unique to the islands – the rest are also found on mainland New Zealand. In 1994 the local species, the Chatham Island mudfish (Galaxias rekohua), was discovered in a peat lake. It seems likely that the fish’s ancestor arrived in the Chathams either from mainland New Zealand or Tasmania, where related species live. This is probably how mudfish reached mainland New Zealand from Australia.
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Photograph by Tony Eldon
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