National Aquarium of New Zealand National Aquarium (Napier) species list, March 2021

[Chlidonias]

This is (at least close to) a 100% full species list for the National Aquarium in Napier. The Aquarium suffers from the usual problem of inaccurate signage. In any public Aquarium this is partly due to frequent species changes or to movements between tanks, and partly because older signage often remains on a tank simply because it is too difficult or expensive to remove or correct it. Fortunately for listing purposes a lot of the tanks at the National Aquarium have only one or a few species in them, and the largest tank (the Oceanarium) is still relatively small at 1.5 million litres so viewing all the species present is not too difficult. Additionally, apart for two tropical tanks, all the marine fish kept here are local New Zealand species which makes identification issues less troublesome. Another factor is that currently there are almost no marine invertebrates on display due to an incident during a massive storm last year where the saltwater holding tanks were drastically diluted with freshwater.

The National Aquarium opened on its current site in 1976 (an earlier building had been in use since 1957), with a major renovation in 2002. It is a small Aquarium but often considered the best / most interesting in New Zealand, even though Kelly Tarltons in Auckland is much larger. However, as with any Aquarium, age shows quickly and restructuring is logistically difficult. This is noticeable in how there are often "home aquariums" popped here and there amongst the more "professional-looking" tanks.

There is an expansion plan entitled Project Shapeshifter but it has been on hold for quite a while due to the pandemic. The Napier City Council website has a June 2020 update for the plan which states that they "now have to look at alternative options for our Aquarium. These options could include a refurbishment of the current facility, re-purposing it for something else, or eventual closure."



Species totals:

Birds: two species (Little Blue Penguin and North Island Brown Kiwi).

Reptiles: five to seven species (two of the turtle species were signed but I don't know if they were still present or not).

Amphibians: two species (Japanese Fire-bellied Newt and Southern Bell Frog).

Fish: about 65 species.

Invertebrates: two species signed (Freshwater Mussel and Freshwater Crayfish); plus a few more species unsigned, mostly tropical Soft Corals which I did not try to identify.


There is also a 2017 species list for the Aquarium (here: National Aquarium Species List [National Aquarium of New Zealand]) but a lot of it was relying on the signage which, as noted in my list below, is woefully out of date for several of the tanks.

 

[Chlidonias]

I have arranged the following species lists by order of the displays. I took photos of almost every exhibit, and so will place a photo in each section as illustration of the display.



1) African cichlids
An unhelpfully labelled tank, with only the vague identification effort of "African Cichlid" and "Malawi Cichlid" on the sign.

There are probably several species in here, but this group is so confusing to me that I have left them unidentified (for now at least). For some suggestions at species, see the comments on this photograph: African cichlids - ZooChat

African Cichlid tank - ZooChat


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2 and 3) "Flooded Forest"


2)
Pacu Piaractus brachypomus
Silver Shark Balantiocheilos melanopterus

Pacu tank - ZooChat


3) "Amazon Community"
Cigar Shark Leptobarbus rubripinna
Silver Shark Balantiocheilos melanopterus
Tinfoil Barb Barbonymus schwanenfeldii
Common Plecostomus (probably Pterygoplichthys pardalis)
Cactus Plecostomus Pseudacanthicus leopardus
Synodontis (Hemisynodontis) membranaceus
Synodontis pardalis (?)

The last time I was at the Aquarium (in 2011) these two tanks were, respectively, a South American tank and an "Estuaries of Asia" tank. Now the second one is a mix of African, Asian, and South American fish weirdly labelled as being an Amazon tank. The sign lacked scientific names but included two Synodontis species: the "Featherfin Catfish", which is S. eupterus as depicted on the sign; and the "Upside Down Catfish" which is a general name for the genus. There were indeed two individual Synodontis in the tank, but the largest one was S. membranaceus (easily identifiable by its broad whiskers), and the other one inside a log may have been S. pardalis. Another fish on the sign was Pink-tailed Chalceus Chalceus macrolepidotus, but the similar-looking fish in the tank were actually Cigar Sharks. I was also surprised that one of the plecs in the tank was a Pseudacanthicus species.

Amazon Community tank - ZooChat


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4) Community Tank
Angelfish Pterophyllum scalare
Kribensis Pelvicachromis pulcher
Swordtail Xiphophorus helleri
Siamese Algae-eater Crossocheilus langei (i.e the "Crossocheilus siamensis" of the aquarium hobby)
Bristlenose Ancistrus sp.
Black Widow Gymnocorymbus ternetzi
Congo Tetra Phenacogrammus interruptus
Pearl Gourami Trichopodus leerii

Note that the identification label next to the tank was almost entirely different to the species in the tank. The labelled species were (using their names): Talking Catfish Platydoras costatus, Bristlenose Plecostomus Ancistrus temmincki, Swordtail Xiphophorus helleri, Silver Zebra Angelfish Pterophyllum, Pencilfish Nannostomus, Redtail Shark Epalzeorhynchus bicolor, Boesman's Rainbowfish Melanotaenia boesmani, and Eastern Rainbowfish Melanotaenia splendida splendida.

Community tank - ZooChat


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5)
Blind Cave Tetra Astyanax mexicanus

Tank for Blind Cave Tetras [i]Astyanax mexicanus[/i] - ZooChat


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6)
Goldfish Carassius auratus

7)
Koi Carp Cyprinus carpio [C. rubrofuscus]
Grass Carp Ctenopharyngodon idella

Koi and Grass Carp pool - ZooChat
[The Goldfish pool looks pretty much like the Koi pool, so I haven't bothered adding a photo]


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8)
Yellow-margined or Chinese Box Turtle Cuora flavomarginata
[Two males - originally they had five males - which were a seizure of smuggled animals]

enclosure for Yellow-margined Box Turtles (Cuora flavomarginata) - ZooChat


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9)
Japanese Fire-bellied Newt Cynops pyrrhogaster

tank for Japanese Fire-bellied Newts (Cynops pyrrhogaster) - ZooChat


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10)
Silver Dollar Metynnis hypsauchen
Swordtail Xiphophorus helleri
[This tank formerly housed Red-bellied Piranhas Pygocentrus nattereri - there are now none at the Aquarium.]

Napier Aquarium - ZooChat
[Photo from 2008 by NZJeremy]

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11)
Eastern Water Dragon Intellagama (Physignathus) lesueurii

enclosures for Eastern Water Dragons (Intellagama lesueurii) - ZooChat
[This is actually two enclosures, separated at the join in the glass, but they both only hold Eastern Water Dragons (formerly also other Australian lizards, such as Blue-tongues and Cunningham's Skinks).]


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12)
Banded Bichir Polypterus delhezi
[This tank has an annoyingly inaccurate sign, as "African Lungfish Polypterus senegalensis"]

tank for Banded Bichirs (Polypterus delhezi) - ZooChat


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13) Turtle tank
Red-eared Terrapin Trachemys scripta elegans
*Eastern Snake-necked Turtle Chelodina longicollis (labelled on the signage but I couldn't see any)
*Reeves' Turtle Mauremys reevesii (labelled on the signage but I couldn't see any)
Pacu Piaractus brachypomus
Silver Dollar Metynnis hypsauchen
Convict Cichlid Amatitlania nigrofasciata
African lake cichlid spp. [unidentified]
Tinfoil Barb Barbonymus schwanenfeldii
Swordtail Xiphophorus helleri
Common Plecostomus (probably Pterygoplichthys pardalis)

This large tank - housing something like forty or fifty Red-eared Terrapins alongside a random assortment of unlabelled tropical fish - was formerly home (in part) to American Alligators. The two Tinfoil Barbs in here are so old and large that I didn't even recognise them as that species - I had to ask one of the Aquarium staff what they were! There were many cichlids in the tanks, including lots of Convict Cichlids and various African lake species, so there were certainly several more species present than in the list above.

Terrapin tank - ZooChat

 

[Chlidonias]

14) Reef tank
White-spotted Puffer Arothron hispidus
Silver Mono Monodactylus argenteus
African Mono Monodactylus sebae
Maroon Clownfish Premnas biaculeatus
Blue and Yellow Damselfish Pomacentrus coelestis
Red-toothed Triggerfish Odonus niger
Purple (Yellowtail) Tang Zebrasoma xanthurum
Long-nosed Butterflyfish (Forceps Fish) Forcipiger flavissimus
Pacific Double-saddled Butterflyfish Chaetodon ulietensis (The signage listed C. falcula but the photo they used was actually of the similar-looking C. ulietensis and this was also the fish in the tank. C. ulietensis is from the Pacific where the Aquarium traditionally imported their tropical marine fish in the past, whereas C. falcula is from the Indian Ocean)

Note that while this tank did have signage it was hopelessly outdated and almost nothing on the sign was now present in the tank. Species labelled were: Common Clownfish Amphiprion ocellaris, Saddle Clownfish Amphiprion ephippium, Maroon Clownfish Premnas biaculeatus; Double Saddle Butterflyfish Chaetodon falcula (but see above), Threadfin Butterflyfish Chaetodon auriga; Clown Triggerfish Balistoides conspicillum (under the old name B. niger), Picasso Triggerfish Rhinecanthus aculeatus; Cleaner Wrasse Labroides dimidiatus, Red-breasted Wrasse Cheilinus fasciatus; Powder-Blue Tang Acanthurus leucosternon, Brown Tang Zebrasoma scopas, Sailfin Tang Zebrasoma veliferum; Blue Devil Damselfish Chrysiptera cyanea, Black Damselfish Chrysiptera niger; Blue Moon Angelfish Pomacanthus maculosus, Banner Fish Heniochus acuminatus; Mono Monodactylus argenteus; and Panther Grouper Cromileptes altivelis.

Tropical marine reef tank - ZooChat
[I think this tank was originally two tanks but now it is connected through the centre part]


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15) Soft Coral tank
Powder-Blue Tang Acanthurus leucosternon
Sailfin Tang Zebrasoma veliferum
Yellow Tang Zebrasoma flavescens
Pyjama Cardinalfish Spaeramia nematoptera
Lemonpeel Angelfish Centropyge flavissima
Maroon Clownfish Premnas biaculeatus
Humbug (Three-striped) Damselfish Dascyllus aruanus
Fiji Blue Devil Damselfish Chrysiptera taupou
Pin-striped Wrasse Halichoeres sp.

Note that this tank had zero signage and the above species are all the fish I saw in the tank - I may have missed one or two if they were hiding. I'm not sure which species the Halichoeres wrasse was - it looked most similar to H. melanurus but the head pattern was unusual.
I haven't attempted to identify any of the corals.

Soft Coral reef tank - ZooChat


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16)
Tuatara Sphenodon punctatus

enclosure for Tuatara (Sphenodon punctatus) - ZooChat


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17) Kiwi House


North Island Brown Kiwi Apteryx mantelli

Kiwi House - ZooChat
[Photo of mine from 2011]


Freshwater Mussel Echyridella menziesii
Koura (Freshwater Crayfish) Paranephrops planifrons
Giant Kokopu Galaxias argenteus

Note that this tank had a general "whitebait" sign listing five galaxiid species. The tank was difficult to view, being poorly-lit and with the front covered in condensation, but the only species I could see were Giant Kokopu.

Galaxiid tank in the Kiwi House - ZooChat


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18)
Little Blue Penguin Eudyptula minor

Note that when the penguins were moved to the Aquarium from the Napier Marineland in 2012 (after the closure of the Marineland) there was one White-flippered Penguin amongst the birds. On this visit I specifically asked about this bird and was told that it is still present but is "only half White-flippered Penguin". However the bird in question (Timmy) has a name-label with an estimated hatch-date of 2015, several years after the penguins arrived from Marineland, and says that he came to the aquarium as a rescue due to a spinal injury; so I think that there was some confusion. I don't think that the original White-flippered Penguin is still at the Aquarium.

enclosure for Little Blue Penguins (Eudyptula minor) - ZooChat


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19)
Southern Bell Frog Litoria raniformis

tank for Southern Bell Frogs (Litoria raniformis) - ZooChat


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20)
Short-finned Eel Anguilla australis

Note that this tank had no real signage. There are only three eels in the tank currently, of which I saw one out in the open which was a definite Short-finned Eel; the other two were too hidden to tell.

tank for Short-finned Eels (Anguilla australis) - ZooChat


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21)
Hawksbill Turtle Eretmochelys imbricata
Parore Girella tricuspidata
Red Pigfish Bodianus unimaculatus

The turtle came to the Aquarium from Fiji in 1979 when it was the size of a dinner plate. Now it is sadly much too large for the tank in which it resides. The fish sharing the tank are NZ marine species: a large Red Pigfish and several Parore.

Hawksbill Turtle tank - ZooChat
[A photo I took in 2024 and then added into this thread because there were previously no proper photos of the tank in the Zoochat gallery. The tank is across all four viewing windows]


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22)
New Zealand or Large-bellied Seahorse Hippocampus abdominalis (Pot-bellied Seahorse to non-NZers)

23)
Yellow Moray Gymnothorax prasinus
Porcupinefish Tragulichthys (Allomycterus) jaculiferus
There were also a few Camouflage Anemones (Oulactis muscosa) and Cushion Stars (Patiriella regularis) in this tank.

Seahorse and Yellow Moray tanks - ZooChat


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24) Rocky Shore
Trevally Pseudocaranx dentex
Kahawai Arripis trutta
Kelpfish (Hiwihiwi) Chironemus marmoratus
[Note that this tank would normally also house Crayfish and other invertebrates]

Rocky Shore tanks - ZooChat


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25) Pania Reef tank
Leatherjacket Parika scaber
Porcupinefish Tragulichthys (Allomycterus) jaculiferus
Red Gurnard Chelidonichthys kumu
Blue Cod Parapercis colias
Marblefish Aplodactylus arctidens
Kelpfish (Hiwihiwi) Chironemus marmoratus
Sweep Scorpis lineolata
Parore Girella tricuspidata
Red Pigfish Bodianus unimaculatus

Pania Reef tank - ZooChat


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26) Oceanarium
Broadnose Sevengill Shark Notorhynchus cepedianus
School Shark (Tope) Galeorhinus galeus
Spiny Dogfish Squalus acanthias
Spotted Dogfish (Rig) Mustelus lenticulatus
Short-tailed Stingray Dasyatis brevicaudata
Groper (Hapuku) Polyprion oxygeneios
Snapper Pagrus auratus
Trevally Pseudocaranx dentex
Kahawai Arripis trutta
Red Gurnard Chelidonichthys kumu
Blue Cod Parapercis colias
Spotty Notolabrus celidotus
Scarlet Wrasse Pseudolabrus miles

Oceanarium tunnel - ZooChat


Note that the ocean tank is divided so that the front viewing panel and the start and end of the loop-tunnel are a separate tank (i.e. the Pania Reef tank), and then behind is the larger tank (i.e. the Oceanarium) with the sharks etc through which the main length of the tunnel runs. The identification plates fixed on the walls within the tunnel probably date from when the Aquarium originally opened, and hence do not reflect the current inhabitants well.

Species on the signs which are present in the two tanks are Snapper Pagrus auratus, Kahawai Arripis trutta, Trevally Pseudocaranx dentex, Blue Cod Parapercis colias, Red Gurnard Chelidonichthys kumu, Leatherjacket Parika scaber, Sweep Scorpis lineolata (but under the name S. aequipinnis), Marblefish Aplodactylus arctidens (but using the older name "A. meandratus"), Kelpfish Chironemus marmoratus, Spotty Notolabrus celidotus, Short-tailed Stingray Dasyatis brevicaudata, School Shark Galeorhinus galeus, Spiny Dogfish Squalus acanthias, and Sevengill Shark Notorhynchus cepedianus.

Species on the signs which are not present are Bronze Whaler Carcharinus brachyurus, Carpet Shark Cephaloscyllium isabella, Eagle Ray Myliobatis tenuicaudatus, Yellow Moray Gymnothorax prasinus, Conger Eel Conger verreauxi, Banded Wrasse Notolabrus fucicola, Red-banded Perch Hypoplectrodes huntii, Red Cod Pseudophycis barbata, Scorpionfish Scorpaena papillosus, Tarakihi Nemadactylus macropterus, Blue Maomao Scorpis violacea, Butterfly Perch Caesioperca lepidoptera, John Dory Zeus faber, Red Moki Cheilodactylus spectabilis, Kingfish Seriola lalandi, Horse Mackerel Trachurus declivis, Spiny Crayfish Jasus edwardsii, and Paddle Crab Ovalipes catharus.

A couple of species from the latter grouping could be present because some species (e.g. the Scorpionfish) are inactive fish and hence could have been missed.