This is a list of all species of fish that are or were known to occur in freshwater habitats of New Zealand. The list includes 63 species as of June 2025. It is based on those currently listed in the New Zealand Threat Classification System. ^[1]

Family	Species	Common name	NZTCS	Notes	Image
Anguillidae	Anguilla dieffenbachii	New Zealand longfin eel	Declining	Catadromous (spawns at sea)
	Anguilla australis	Short-finned eel	Not Threatened	Also found in Australia and elsewhere in the southwest Pacific. Catadromous (spawns at sea)
	Anguilla reinhardtii	Speckled longfin eel/Australian long-finned eel	Coloniser	First confirmed in 1997 to have established in New Zealand. [2] Catadromous (spawns at sea)
Cheimarrichthyidae	Cheimarrichthys fosteri	Torrentfish/panoko	Declining	Amphidromous (visit the sea in youth but return)
Cyprinidae	Carassius auratus	Goldfish	Introduced and Naturalised
	Cyprinus carpio	Common carp	Introduced and Naturalised
Eleotridae	Gobiomorphus hubbsi	Bluegill bully	Declining
	Gobiomorphus alpinus	Tarndale bully	Naturally Uncommon
	Gobiomorphus gobioides	Giant bully/tītarakura/tīpokopoko	Naturally Uncommon
	Gobiomorphus basalis	Cran's bully	Not Threatened
	Gobiomorphus breviceps	Upland bully	Not Threatened
	Gobiomorphus cotidianus	Common bully/Toitoi	Not Threatened
	Gobiomorphus huttoni	Redfin bully	Not Threatened
Galaxiidae	Galaxias cobitinis	Lowland longjaw galaxias	Nationally Critical
	Neochanna burrowsius	Canterbury Mudfish	Nationally Critical
	Galaxias anomalus	Roundhead galaxias	Nationally Endangered
	Galaxias eldoni	Eldon's galaxias	Nationally Endangered
	Galaxias pullus	Dusky galaxias	Nationally Endangered
	Galaxias depressiceps	Flathead galaxias	Nationally Vulnerable
	Galaxias gollumoides	Gollum galaxias	Nationally Vulnerable
	Galaxias macronasus	Bignose galaxias	Nationally Vulnerable
	Galaxias postvectis	Shortjaw kōkopu	Nationally Vulnerable
	Galaxias prognathus	Longjawed galaxias	Nationally Vulnerable
	Neochanna heleios	Northland mudfish	Nationally Vulnerable
	Galaxias argenteus	Giant kōkopu	Declining
	Galaxias brevipinnis	Climbing galaxias/kōaro	Declining
	Galaxias divergens	Dwarf galaxias	Declining
	Galaxias maculatus	Common galaxias/inanga	Declining
	Galaxias vulgaris	Common river galaxias/Canterbury galaxias	Declining
	Neochanna apoda	Brown mudfish	Declining
	Neochanna diversus	Black mudfish	Declining
	Galaxias paucispondylus	Alpine galaxias	Naturally Uncommon
	Neochanna rekohua	Chatham mudfish	Naturally Uncommon
	Galaxias fasciatus	Banded kōkopu	Not Threatened
Geotriidae	Geotria australis	Pouched lamprey	Nationally Vulnerable
Gobiidae	Gobiopterus semivestitus	Glassgoby	Coloniser	First detected in 2008. [3]
	Parioglossus marginalis	Blackmargin dartfish	Coloniser	Needs saltwater to survive, but tolerates excursions into freshwater streams. [4]
	Acentrogobius pflaumii	Striped Sandgoby	Introduced and Naturalised	Can occur in brackish estuaries
	Arenigobius bifrenatus	Bridled goby	Introduced and Naturalised	Occurs in estuaries
Ictaluridae	Ameiurus nebulosus	Brown bullhead	Introduced and Naturalised
Leuciscidae	Leuciscus idus	Orfe	Introduced and Naturalised
	Scardinius erythrophthalmus	Common rudd	Introduced and Naturalised
Mugilidae	Aldrichetta forsteri	Yellow-eye mullet	Not Threatened	Common in river estuaries and can travel several kilometers upstream. [5]
	Mugil cephalus	Flathead grey mullet	Not Threatened	Marine species but can travel significant distances upstream. [6]
Percidae	Perca fluviatilis	European perch	Introduced and Naturalised
Poeciliidae	Gambusia affinis	Mosquitofish	Introduced and Naturalised
	Phalloceros caudimaculatus	Dusky millions fish	Introduced and Naturalised
	Poecilia latipinna	Sailfin molly	Introduced and Naturalised
	Poecilia reticulata	Guppy	Introduced and Naturalised
	Xiphophorus hellerii	Green swordtail	Introduced and Naturalised	Only known from Waipahihi Stream near Taupō. Possibly extinct from New Zealand. [7]
Retropinnidae	Prototroctes oxyrhynchus	New Zealand Grayling	Extinct	Last sighted in 1929 and was formally declared extinct in 2018. [8]
	Stokellia anisodon	Stokell's smelt	Naturally Uncommon
	Retropinna retropinna	New Zealand smelt	Not Threatened
Rhombosoleidae	Rhombosolea retiaria	Black flounder/Mohoao	Not Threatened
Salmonidae	Oncorhynchus mykiss	Rainbow trout	Introduced and Naturalised
	Oncorhynchus nerka	Sockeye salmon	Introduced and Naturalised
	Oncorhynchus tshawytscha	Chinook salmon	Introduced and Naturalised
	Salmo salar	Atlantic salmon	Introduced and Naturalised
	Salmo trutta	Brown trout	Introduced and Naturalised
	Salvelinus fontinalis	Brook trout	Introduced and Naturalised
	Salvelinus namaycush	Lake trout	Introduced and Naturalised
Tincidae	Tinca tinca	Tench	Introduced and Naturalised
Tripterygiidae	Forsterygion nigripenne	Estuarine triplefin	Not Threatened	Primarily known from estuaries but can sometimes be found in lower reaches of streams and rivers [9]

References