Rm. Allibone et Cr. Townsend, DISTRIBUTION OF 4 RECENTLY DISCOVERED GALAXIID SPECIES IN THE TAIERI RIVER, NEW-ZEALAND - THE ROLE OF MACROHABITAT, Journal of Fish Biology, 51(6), 1997, pp. 1235-1246
The physical features of 20 streams inhabited by four recently discove
red species of allopatric, non-migratory galaxiid fishes in the Taieri
River, South Island, New Zealand were examined. Significant differenc
es in particle size frequencies, combined waterfall frequency, channel
depth variation and stream width : flood channel width ratios, indica
ted that Galaxins anomalus lived in low gradient shallow streams where
as G. depressiceps and G. eldoni occupied low to high gradient streams
with more variability in depth. Climbing ability differed significant
ly among the species. Their allopatric patterns of distribution were,
in part, the probable consequence of the abilities of G. depressiceps
and G. eldoni to colonize areas that G. anomalus could not penetrate.
Historical factors and reproductive biology of the four species are hy
pothesized also to be causal determinants of their current distributio
ns. (C) 1997 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.