8
July 2016
CANTERBURY FARMING
BY ANN MORGAN
Anita Spencer is a Biodiversity Ranger for the Department of Conservation in North Canterbury, specialising in protection of threatened native species across the region, including New Zealand’s native mudfish.
“I
have been working here for 15 years now. My main responsibility is general threatened species work focussing on species such as mudfish, lizards, plants, penguins, bittern and moths,” said Anita. “ We identify key populations of threatened species and I monitor and survey them over time. I also do active management. I have a number of predator traps targeting stoats, hedgehogs, feral cats and other pests which are checked monthly. Hedgehogs are bad for lizards. They are really
numerous and you don’t realise how many are out there in the landscape.” One of the species Anita is particularly passionate about is the native Canterbury mudfish. New Zealand’s mudfish are small, native freshwater fish found in a variety of freshwater habitats such as wetlands, pools in swamp forests and slow-flowing streams and drains, and have long, stocky bodies, reduced fins, slippery skin, and no scales. “There are five species of mudfish in New Zealand, all of which are either ‘at risk’
or ‘threatened’ under the NZ Threat Classification System. These are the Canterbury, brown, black, Northland and Chatham Island mudfish. They grow to around 9–12 centimetres long. The largest I know of was 17 centimetres. “Canterbury mudfish are the most threatened and are only found in our region in a limited number of waterways on the Canterbury Plains, between the Ashley and the Waitaki Rivers.” “They were discovered in Oxford by Mr Burrows, a farmer. This is quite apt as they do burrow. They can burrow down to tree roots
Anita Spencer is passionate about saving Canterbury mudfish populations which are one of the five species found in New Zealand
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