TALKS TO ANGLERS

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 65, 14 September 1934, Page 16

TALKS TO ANGLERS

:_! . ♦ ■ . ■ j UNKJUE; X.Z. FISHES i TAUPO WATERS AND CAMPS" The first gathering of the Wellington ' Angling Club last .night was most successful, some forty anglers evidently representing all branches of the art passing, the evening pleasantly in listening to informative' addresses, and in exchanging experiences on river and'.lalce. 'Mr. R. H. Niinmo presided. ONCE A CONTINENT. '.'Native Fresh Water Fishes" was the subject of an, address by Mr. W. J. Pliillipps, of the Dominion Museum. He explained that the fresh water fishes of New Zealand were the descendants of marino ancestral forms which migrated from sea to estuary and from estuary to fresh water. Evidence of this existed in the fact that many .native, species'6pent, a considerable part of their lives in migrat- ' ing, either to or from the estuary. There appeared to be little doubt that formerly a New Zealand continent existed, and ; it had been suggested that two families which included whitebait and lamprey j bw.ed their .development and distribution in the Southern Hemisphere to a former New Zealand continent. South American, Australian, and New Zealand fresh water fishes were all fairly closely related', and differed greatly from those of jtho Northern Hemisphere. One of the j families to which the whitebait belonged I was seen in South America, Australia, and New Zealand, and nowhere else in) the world. It had been suggested on that account, and on account of insects found, that a great continent once connected these countries It was thought that once a New Zealand continent stretched close enough to the Antarctic continent to make possible the journey across to New, Zealand and other places. _. . There were some unique fishes. Their present nature and structure was euch that they might easily, have crossed a small area of ocean. They were now becoming used to fresh water. Whitebait spent half their lives migrating to and from estuaries. Their-life history, had recently been solved, and it was found that they spawned .in brackish water at tbe height of the spring tides, tho csgs remaining high and dry until the high tides again reached them. ■' UNIQUE FISHES. Dealing with unique fresh water iishes, ■Mr. Phillipps dealt with the lamprey, once common in the Hutt River. It was interesting because it had no jaws. Fish were among the lowest things with jaws in Nature's scale, and the lamprey, having no jaws, was lower still clown tlig scale. On its tonguo was a rasping apparatus, by which it could cling to other fishes "and suck their blood. Small ones ,wero etill found in partsl of ,the Hutt River. In two of its stages the lampley was known to the Maoris as korokoro - and piharau. Another interesting fish was the smelt (retropimia), which had much tho samo strucure as the salmon and tho trout. The whitebait wna tha young of a well-known species which hud been described as tho Now Zealand minnow. Tho native mudfish, iieochnnna apoda, was a relative of the whitebait. This fish lived at the Masterton hatcliery, which was supplied by springs of ftcHh water, of even temperature, in which there wh« a phenomenal growth of water weed. Thero these fish had been found from tho length of the fingernail upwards. When Hokitika was being drained nome of these fish were found in quite hnrd clay, which seemed miraculous, but tho mudfish wcro swamp fish which did not require much oxygen, and did not need fresh water. In times of drought they could get down holes left by small roots, and so get moisture. In Musterlou they were known as "spring eel«." The only Maori names ho had encountered was waikaka. It w_aw a unique fish well worthy of preservation. Another interesting fish was tho lop minnow, or gambusia, which the Russians were now using to kill mosquitoes which bred in the swamps.' It had been successfully kept at Masterton, and had bred there. From thero it had been possible to supply the Copk Islands with several hundreds, and these would bo used for mosquito control,- in view of a disease from mosquitoes which was becoming serious there. Mr. C. E. Aldridge gave the assembled anglers the 'benefit of twenty years' experience of Taupo fishing as regards localities and camping places, interspersed with amusing incidents connected with the sport. ' Hearty acclamation followed a motion by Mr. A. Seed of appreciation of the nddresses, and the meeting passed to formal business. The chairman, outlining the proposed activities of the club, said that a deputation had been arranged to visit farmers and owners in. the Wainui Valley, Mungaroa Valley, and other districts, explaining the policy of the club of consideration of the rights of property owners, and seeking permission for access to members. The idea was not to seek exclusive permission to members, but to bring all anglers to realise that permission should always be sought, in which ease he had rarely found it vefused.