Thanks to funding from the Waikato Catchment Ecological Enhancement Trust 10 shortjaw, 60 juvenile giant kokopu and 200 banded kokopu were released into the tautari wetland, the main boardwalk pool and in the pond on the Rata Track on 5 April 2007.

Some visitors to the southern enclosure have been lucky enough to spot the kokopu in the southern enclosure waterways.

The kokopu were transferred from Charles and Jan Mitchell’s aquaculture farm at Raglan.

Kokopu Facts

• Kokopu are native to New Zealand
• There are three different types: giant, banded and shortjaw
• Banded kokopu often reach 150mm in length. Giant kokopu grow much larger and a fish of 3.5 pounds was once recorded
• Kokopu inhabit forest streams, lakes and wetlands
• Eggs are laid amongst leaf litter on the water’s edge, hatch during flooding and the larvae wash out to sea to grow over 3-5 months into whitebait
• They then re-enter freshwater as ‘whitebait’, as they mature they are called kokopu
• Predators include introduced mammalian pests particularly rodents and mustelids
• Kokopu eat insects and spiders that fall into the water
• They are members of the galaxias genus