New Zealand grayling

New Zealand grayling

Extinct  (1927)  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Osmeriformes
Family: Retropinnidae
Subfamily: Prototroctinae
Genus: Prototroctes
Species: P. oxyrhynchus
Binomial name
Prototroctes oxyrhynchus
Günther, 1870

The New Zealand grayling (Prototroctes oxyrhynchus) is an extinct smelt of the genus Prototroctes, which was found only in lowland rivers and streams of New Zealand. They were an amphidromous species—spawning in freshwater streams and developing to maturity in saltwater. Their length was between 20 and 40 cm.

Though abundant through the early colonial period, by the 1860s their population began to decline. The last known specimen was caught in the late 1920s to early 1930s. Deforestation and competition from introduced trout may have contributed to the New Zealand grayling's extinction.[1]

In 1951, some years after the last sighting, the species was given full legal protection by the Freshwater Fisheries Regulations, the only New Zealand native freshwater fish to be protected.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 West, D; David, B. & Ling, N. (2014). "Prototroctes oxyrhynchus". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. 2014: e.T18384A20887241. doi:10.2305/IUCN.UK.2014-3.RLTS.T18384A20887241.en. Retrieved 10 January 2018.
  2. ↑ Mitchell, Charlie (14 February 2018). "The enduring mystery of our only protected freshwater native fish". Stuff. Retrieved 24 September 2018.
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