How Fish Are Helping Scientists Find Gold In New Zealand

How Fish Are Helping Scientists Find Gold In New Zealand

By Eleanor Higgs

Source: iflscience

4/25/2023

Credit: optimarc/Shutterstock

Finding gold is notoriously difficult with a surprisingly small amount discovered in Earth's history. While some may discover exceptionally large nuggets, most go home empty-handed. In New Zealand however, one group of researchers had a brainwave: by combining the unusual mixture of geology and the genetics of fish populations they have quite literally struck gold.

New Zealand sits on two tectonic plates, meaning the geology of the country has been constantly changed as mountain ranges are created and rivers are altered in their course. Over the last 20 million years the drainage in eastern Southland has changed substantially causing changes to the distribution of alluvial gold. Also caught up in this geological upheaval are a small unassuming group of native freshwater fish in the genus Galaxias.

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