Pheromone detectors used to track vulnerable fish in Otago

Pheromone detectors used to track vulnerable fish in Otago

Source: rnz

3/19/2023

Pheromone detectors used to track vulnerable fish in Otago

Credit: RNZ / Alison Ballance

Pheromone detectors are being used to track down a nationally vulnerable fish in Otago with hopes it will help to protect them in the future.

Kanakana or lamprey are a jawless, migratory fish that look like an eel and have existed for more than 360 million years.

They have a large 'sucker' full of teeth they use to climb steep waterfalls during their upstream journey to spawn and to latch onto larger fish and whales during a parasitic phase as adults.