118 
W. G. O’CONNOR AND J. D. KOEHN 
27 22 34 21 34 26 25 25 23 
62 
160 
ZD 
Q. 
O 
Q. 
o 
aP 
■ Spent Fish ||| Partially Spent |^jRipe Fish 
Males 
Fig. 4. Percentage of ripe and spent Galaxias olidus during the 1990 spawning season in Bruces Creek. Numbers 
of fish examined are given above each column. 
pling period covered most of the spawning 
season. 
Most females collected were either ripe or 
spent, only two being part spent, an indication 
that females lay all their eggs at once. Both part 
spent females had red bruising on their sides and 
abdomen suggesting they may have been in the 
act of spawning when captured. Several other 
females (spent and running ripe) and males (part 
spent) had similar marks. 
Eggs in some gravid females in the 4 October 
sample and in all gravid females in the 25 Octo¬ 
ber 1990 sample were noticed to be smaller in 
size, possibly indicating that a small percentage 
of females did not spawn and were undergoing 
involution. Throughout the breeding season a 
proportion of males were partially spent, sug¬ 
gesting that each male may be involved in more 
than one fertilization. 
Daytime water temperatures between 15 
August 1990 and 4 October 1990 were between 
8.0° and 10.2°C and water levels rose to a max¬ 
imum recorded level of 70 mm above the normal 
watermark, although observations indicated 
that higher short-term levels did occur. Water 
temperature was 13.5°C on 25 October 1990. 
Water conductivities varied from 73 to 90 EC 
units. 
Spawning sites 
Four individual spawning sites were found: 
three were at the downstream end of a riffle at 
the head of a pool containing large numbers of 
ripe fish, and one was at the head of a riffle im¬ 
mediately downstream of a pool. No fish were 
collected from the near vicinity of any of the 
spawning sites. 
