You can tell if I am a guy because I have bright
red fins and side patches. I defend my territory,
which is under a large rock in a pool in a
fast-flowing stream. My pool must have lots of
coarse stones on the bottom and it needs lots of
bush around it, so that it stays cool.
I eat insects that I find living under the rocks and
cobbles.
When spring comes, I change colour to black with a
green edge to my backbone fin. I attract girls into
my territory to lay eggs. The girls are covered in
beautiful bronze or grey stripes and they all lay
eggs at different times. When the babies hatch they
are washed downstream and out to sea. A few months
later they return to swim up a river, right up to
where the bush surrounds the stream. Sometimes they
die on that journey when the water is blocked by a
dam or is too hot from being exposed to the sun.
Waitakere is a really good place for us to live,
because the ranges with their bush are quite close
to the sea.
You can tell if I am a guy because I have bright
red fins and side patches. I defend my territory,
which is under a large rock in a pool in a
fast-flowing stream. My pool must have lots of
coarse stones on the bottom and it needs lots of
bush around it, so that it stays cool.
