garfish

Hyporhamphus ihi

Fish
IUCN: Not evaluated

Usual depth0–16 m
Water temperature12–20 °C
Best monthsFebruary, March, and April
How commonRare

Photo credit: (c) Shaun Lee, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Hyporhamphus ihi, known as garfish, piper or by its Māori name takeke, is a halfbeak found all around New Zealand in shallow inshore waters.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Hyporhamphus ihi”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

Loading the map

Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 21 records
February: 26 records
March: 30 records
April: 29 records
May: 25 records
June: 12 records
July: 14 records
August: 7 records
September: 7 records
October: 7 records
November: 12 records
December: 14 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 0–16 m · Deepest record: 27 m

0–10 m: 11 records
10–20 m: 2 records
20–30 m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 12–20 °C

10–12 °C: 2 records
12–14 °C: 1 records
14–16 °C: 1 records
16–18 °C: 28 records
18–20 °C: 4 records

Photos

(c) Christopher Stephens, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist
(c) Oscar Dove, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Luca Davenport-Thomas, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Luca Davenport-Thomas, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) Oscar Dove, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: garfish, New Zealand garfish, New Zealand Piper, Piper

Similar species

Dussumier's halfbeak
Hyporhamphus dussumieri
Dusky Garfish
Hyporhamphus melanochir
Half-beak
Hyporhamphus quoyi
Atlantic silverstripe halfbeak
Hyporhamphus unifasciatus
Acute Halfbeak
Hyporhamphus acutus
Tropical halfbeak
Hyporhamphus affinis

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
94 open-data records from 1949 to 2013.
Species data updated November 3, 2026.

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