NOTES 
Fishes Taken in Wellington Harbour 
This record of the fishes of Wellington Har¬ 
bour is the result of a series of notes collected at 
intervals during a period of over 20 years. My 
first paper ( New Zeal. Jour. Sci. and Technol. 
1(5): 268-271, 1918) supplies a record of the 
edible fishes of Wellington; and to this, addi¬ 
tions have been made in subsequent papers. 
This summary of fish fauna deals exclusively 
with fishes recorded from the harbour, and does 
not by any means claim to be a complete record; 
for we doubtless have many aquatic visitors who 
do not remain for any length of time. 
The climate of Wellington is very variable; 
but the temperature of the harbour water re¬ 
mains relatively constant unless the summer is 
consistently warm, when all sorts of northern 
species such as John Dory, Zeus faber, and 
northern mullet, Mugil cephalus, invade our 
waters. It also is well to remember that we are 
dealing with shoals of fishes which are anything 
but consistent in their appearance and are at 
the mercy of a variable and ever-changing food 
supply, so that species recorded in a given year 
may not be seen again for a comparatively long 
period. The residual fish fauna of the harbour 
is, I think, small. Herring, Agonostomus fors- 
teri, are the most common species, and next to 
these the spotties, Rseudolabrus celidotus, which 
are found in abundance in many localities. 
Shoals of larger fishes, notably kahawai, Arripis 
trutta, and barracouta, Tbyrsites atun, prey on 
these smaller fishes in the summer months. 
It is probable that the relative abundance of 
fish life in the harbour is on the decrease. The 
traffic of large vessels at the wharves appears to 
have reduced the number of fishes in that area; 
and the fishing grounds off Seatoun and Worser 
Bay are either fished out or now partly deserted. 
1. Geotria australis Gray. Lamprey. 
In the "piharau stage” this lamprey lives in 
Wellington Harbour until it is well over 1 foot 
long, and then migrates up the Hutt River to 
spawn. Several specimens of a very beautiful 
green-blue colour have been taken by the Petone 
fishermen off Somes Island and forwarded to 
the Dominion Museum for identification. 
2. Notorhynchus pectorosus (Garman). 
Seven-gilled Shark. 
This species appears in the harbour at irregu¬ 
lar intervals. It is probable that it enters only 
in pursuit of small fishes. Only two specimens 
have been examined. (Phillipps, New Zeal. 
Dominion Mus. Rec. 1(2): 5, 1946). 
3. Eulamia brachyurus (Gunther). Whaler. 
This is a species that is rarely taken in the 
harbour. In the Dominion Museum there is a 
cast of a specimen a little over 9 feet long from 
off Somes Island. 
4. Raja nasuta Muller and Henle. Skate. 
Sometimes small skates are taken by fisher¬ 
men off Rona Bay. 
5. Callorhynchus milii Bory. Elephant Fish. 
Some years ago a small elephant fish was 
taken off Rona Bay and sent to the Museum for 
identification. This species, so abundant in 
Otago Harbour, is almost unknown north of 
Cook Strait. 
6. Sardinops neopilchardus (Steindachner). 
Pilchard. 
A note on the occurrence of this species in 
Wellington Harbour is given by me in New 
Zeal. Jour. Sci. and Technol. 7(3): 191, 1924. 
Shoals enter the harbour in the winter, about 
August, and are indicated by the diving of gan- 
nets. 
7. Gonorhvnchus gonorynchus (Linnaeus). 
Sand Fish. 
This species is sometimes taken off Rona Bay 
and specimens are occasionally forwarded to the 
Museum for identification. The sand fish may 
be quite common as it escapes the drag net by 
burrowing. 
[128] 
