CAPTIVE WHITEBAIT GROWS TO 7 INCHES IN FOUR YEARS

Greymouth Evening Star, 30 September 1950, Page 4

CAPTIVE WHITEBAIT GROWS TO 7 INCHES IN FOUR YEARS

NEW PLYMOUTH, This Day (0.C.). —The St Kilda family who kept a whitebait under observation for a year after its capture in the Clutha River only to find that it obstinately refused to become anything but a whitebait, may find that some light is shed on the problem by a New Plymouth whitebait which has lived in captivity for four years. The whitebait is the sole survivor of 18— considered too few _ for fritters—which were thrown into the backyard goldfish pond of their captor, Mr G. Webber, of New Plymouth. During its four years’ captivity, it has grown to seven inches in length, but has retained its general outline. The semi-transparency of its younger days has given way to the greenybrown colouring of the pond and it has developed a, taste for snails and often flicks out of the water to snap up unwary sandflies. Despite generous feeding, it retains the agility of its youth. Its speed is more than a match for the trout and goldfish with which it shares the pond. All but one other of the 18 whitebait met untimely deaths when they leapt out of the small pond after nibbling the tails of their goldfish companions. One lasted three years and a-half and is now preserved in methylated spirits. It’ is five inches and a-half long, is green-brown in colour, and appears to have a very thick smooth skin.

Pond conditions provided a possible explanation of the Dunedin whitebait’s failure to change during its period under observation—it had been kept in too close captivity, said Mr Webber. He and his father have been experimenting with fish, mainly goldfish, in a series of home-built ponds for over 15 or 16 years. He cited his experience with carp. “Put them in a small pond and they stay small,” he said. “Put them in a dark pond and they will go dark.” His four-year-old whitebait has spent most of its life in a large shady pond with a mud-covered bottom. Colour first appeared after three or foui' months in the pond in alternating green and brown stripes across the back of the fish. It lasted, however, through a short period spent in a sunny pond and later merged into the present green-brown mixture. None the worse for four years in captivity, Mr Webber’s whitebait shows no signs of ill-health and promises to live to a ripe old age. The New Plymouth veteran will certainly never share the fate of the Alexandra whitebait, Phillipa, who disappeared down a washtub drain. He is far too big for any ordinary washtub pipe.