Whitebait is a seasonal food source coveted by many a Kiwi. In New Zealand whitebait describes the juvenile forms (around 4–5 centimetres long) of five species of fish; īnanga, kōaro, banded kōkopu, giant kōkopu, and shortjaw kōkopu.
We are pretty much in the middle of the whitebait season right now.
A year ago we caught some in the stream that runs along the side of the sculpture garden and put them in our pond. A year later and much bigger we have a pack of īnanga swimming about. We call them a pack as they definitely hunt that way, acting more like pirañas, attacking any food you drop in for them.
They reportedly live for a year. One year on they are looking healthy and strong. So camouflaged, they are seemingly impossible to photograph now.
