Common Name Upland Bully
Scientific Name Gobiomorphus breviceps
International Distribution None.
National Distribution
Indigenous (native) fish, and also endemic, thus found only in New Zealand, and then mostly in the South Island.
Distribution in the Styx River:
Upland bullies are common and widespread in the Styx River catchment, as they are in many rivers in the South Island, and the southern regions of the North Island. They tend to occupy the middle and upper reaches of rivers (McDowall 1990). In the Styx catchment, upland bullies occur in the Styx River upstream of Marshland Road, and are also identified in Kaputone Creek and Smacks Creek.
Biology
The upland bully is the one of the few bullies which spawn and are reared in their resident habitat, and therefore do not require access to the sea (McDowall 1990). This confers a major advantage to the upland bully in that they can sustain populations upstream of culverts, weirs and other in-built structures. Such structures can prevent migratory fish predators like trout and eels from reaching the upland bully populations.
As an example of this, a population containing very large upland bullies were found in the Regents Park waterway, an artificial waterway, upstream of a long perched culvert (Taylor 2002). At the time of capture in 2001, one individual, at 112 mm, was the largest upland bully recorded on the New Zealand Freshwater Fish Database.
Upland bullies spawn on cobbles, and other submerged firm surfaces, have multiple batches of eggs during the spring and summer, and mature in the first year (McDowall & Eldon 1997). This means that, under suitable spawning conditions, large numbers of upland bully fry can be captured in these habitats during the summer months, where populations can exceed 5 fish per square metre (McMurtrie et al. 2005).
References
| McDowall, R. M. 1990: New Zealand Freshwater Fishes: A Natural History and Guide. Auckland, Heinemann Reed. 553 p. | |
| McDowall, R. M.; Eldon, G. A. 1997: Reproductive cycling and fecundity estimation in the upland bully. Journal of Fish Biology 51: 164-179. | |
| McMurtrie, S. A.; Burdon, F.; Taylor, M. J. 2005. Aquatic ecology of the Mairehau-Marshlands Area. EOS Ecology, Christchurch. No. p. | |
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Taylor, M. J. 2002. Regents Park Drive Waterway;a consideration of its ecology and habitat access. Applied Ecology Limited, Christchurch. AEL Report No. 7. 13 p |