Rare fish seen for first time in over a decade in Auckland | RNZ

Matt Bloxson's been searching wetlands like this one in Oakuckland for more than a decade.

The animal he's searching for used to be one of the most abundant in Alteora.

>> There we go guys.

>> But the endangered and somewhat peculiar black mudfish or Waka has made a surprising reappearance says Oakland Council's senior regional freshwater adviser. They don't have that sort of

adviser. They don't have that sort of cuddly uh aspect to them that uh you know kiwi do and and kakapo. So any

attention we can get you know to to you know shed the light on these species is always uh always really valued. So they

knew they'd struck gold in October when Mr. Bloxom and his team stumbled upon about a dozen of these small eelike critters in Helensville. Especially

considering Oakland is estimated to have lost about 90% of its wetlands. Not

every wetland is going to hold habitat useful to mudfish, but um yeah, finding them has proven harder than than we

expected. Uh one new find in 2014, and

expected. Uh one new find in 2014, and it was this year that we found two new populations. So, it's been quite a quite

populations. So, it's been quite a quite an amazing year for us actually. The

black mud fish has been reduced to pockets of water in between Wato and Northland, often competing against introduced vegetation and pest fish. The

precarious nature of their existence is such that Mr. Bloxom says the small strip of water they were found has since evaporated. He says they would have

evaporated. He says they would have since secreted themselves into the mud lying dormant.

>> Mudfish have have benefited from these, you know, these we tracks from uh wild animals walking walking through here where other species may not have. And

while the mudfish have drier times ahead over summer, Oakland Zoo has been trying to bolster their numbers, starting with a breeding program in 2015. Oakland Zoo

ectotherm keeper Julie Underwood says they've managed to breed more than 350 Waka mudfish from a small group donated by Hikudangi Manafinoa in Taio, Northland.

>> They have abilities like surviving out of water. So they don't have scales.

of water. So they don't have scales.

They have leathery skin with a mucous layer and they can actually absorb oxygen through that as long as they're damp. So when the wetland dries out,

damp. So when the wetland dries out, they can hunker into the mud and kind of survive that dry period when all the other fish have to leave the area. So

it's a good survival technique.

>> Julie Underwood says it's hoped their lowcost but robust conservation methods with the mudfish can be replicated.

>> I think this is a really good example of what you can do for conservation when you don't have to spend a whole lot of money or use a lot of technical equipment. So this was set up to be

equipment. So this was set up to be quite natural and the hope was that it's something we can pass on to other groups. Other people can breed mud fish

groups. Other people can breed mud fish and it's not sort of out of reach of people to contribute in this way.

>> But the question remains for other populations with Aliador's wetlands continuing to suffer the impacts of human interference.

>> So wetland habitats are are quite rare now. They often get drained for houses

now. They often get drained for houses for farming and so there's very few natural wetlands left. So, they don't have a lot of habitat left and they also have to fight against introduced pest

fish species. So, they have a bit of a

fish species. So, they have a bit of a hard road ahead of them, but we're lucky that there's still some populations remaining.