Youth Creature Feature [March 2026]
Fish of the Year 2026 has a suite of unforgettable ika that need their own individual Creature Features someday.
By Jasmine Starr
Good news for all local fish enjoyers: Fish of the Year 2026 has begun!
Scrolling through this year’s candidates, I swung madly between joy and apprehension. I had to pit the glorious tuna against sharks. My beloved rays against the legendary sunfish. How could I possibly choose one fish to write about, when there are over 40 incredible creatures on display?
My heart was torn to pieces by the prospect, so I’ve decided to cheat and write about my four favourite fish. I mean, my five favourite fish. Okay, you know what? I am writing about six fish. Sue me.
This unassuming Kōkopu will blow your mind to smithereens. Smithereens! Credit: Blueether, CC BY-SA 3.0
Despite being only 2cm long, the Banded Kōkopu can climb just about anything. They famously wriggle right out of a bucket or a tank, but that’s the least of their talents. From 60-metre waterfalls to the ‘fish-proof’ barrier of the Wairehu Canal, you can’t keep these legendary creatures down. Most impressively of all, these teeny-tiny fish use nothing but their small ridged fins and the surface tension of a thin sheen of water. How do they know where to climb? Juveniles can follow the smell of their fellow kōkopu, helping them find a suitable habitat during migration.
personality: 3/5 | anatomy: 4/5 | silliness: 3/5 | awe: 5/5 |
This is a fish. Seriously. I promise. Credit: John Turnbull, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
The Crested Weedfish has the expression of a wise haggard pirate who has seen far too much, and it looks almost exactly like kelp. This makes them exceedingly hard to spot — a pair of devoted marine biologists took nine years to find a single one. Crested weedfish cling to kelp forests, swinging like a natural offshoot, practically invisible. These creatures don’t drop the disguise even while they swim; they’ll undulate softly, like kelp drifting gently through the sea.
personality: 5/5 | anatomy: 5/5 | silliness: 2/5 | awe: 3/5 |
A ghost entombed in velvety felt. This is our hagfish’s Atlantic cousin, because Aotearoa’s species refuses to be on creative commons. Credit: Peter Southwood via iNaturalist, CC BY-SA 4.0
You’re not ready for the Hagfish / Tuere. Buckle up.
The hagfish’s threat response is to release a bunch of slime. This slime is built of infinitesimally small threads intertwined with mucus in a bundle. When released, the pull of the water helps this bundle unravel. The slime will expand 10,000 times its size in just a few tenths of a second, filling the mouth and gills of their predator and deterring them entirely. Hagfish have been seen to release slime at a threat and let that take care of it, without even pausing their eating. When a container full of hagfish spilled on a U.S. highway in 2017, they made enough slime to cover the entire road, plus a nearby car. It’s so abundant, and so strong, that scientists are testing the fibers to weave more durable clothes — and bulletproof vests!
“But surely this is the only strange thing about hagfish?” I hear you ask, after a long pause while you try to process hagfish slime clothes. But I can offer no such reassurance. The hagfish’s teeth can eject from their mouth to grab food, and they eat by then pulling those teeth back inside. Also they’re prone to eating their prey inside out. And they can sneeze. I could go on.
personality: 5/5 | anatomy: 5/5 | silliness: 5/5 | awe: 3/5 |
Why hello there. Credit: Memobig2 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Piharau / Lampreys attach themselves to rocks and scrape off the algae with a rough tongue — it’s no wonder “lamprey” comes from “stonelicker”. The piharau’s signature wriggle creates low pressure zones around their bodies, which make the currents pull them through the water. And that isn't their only trick. A protrusion on their jaw, called a ‘velum’, creates a current that pulls objects directly into their mouths! If you’ve ever seen a piharau sucking against a plate of glass, there is no denying their abundance of personality. The Roman orator Crassus reportedly cried over a lamprey’s death, which like, fair enough.
personality: 4/5 | anatomy: 5/5 | silliness: 5/5 | awe: 1/5 |
Ahh, the striped marlin. I’ve never seen a fish look so…guilty. Credit: Auckland Museum, CC0 1.0
The striped marlin is not only clad in dashing shades of black and grey, but covered in chromatophores that let them vary their vibrancy. When excited, their skin can turn a brilliant lavender or even an intense blue. The marlin’s most striking features are their swordlike nose and elegant sail, both of which are made for speed. The fastest fish in the ocean, this gorgeous creature can cleave through the water at 80km/h.
personality: 2/5 | anatomy: 4/5 | silliness: 2/5 | awe: 3/5 |
I cannot believe we share a planet with the sunfish. Credit: Kai Squires, CC BY 4.0
The sunfish is a splendid behemoth with a delightfully flat body. Their ellipsoid bodies are long and strange and topped with large triangular fins. They’re often compared to just a head swimming through the sea. The mottled grey skin of the sunfish can shift shades at will!
Sunfish grow nearly 60 million times larger throughout their life. This is a rapid transformation — they reach hundreds of kilograms in just a few months. While adults are roughly 2.5m long and up to 2,500kg, their babies weigh less than a gram! You cannot exist in a world with a creature this large, and this strange, without feeling awestruck.
personality: 2/5 | anatomy: 4/5 | silliness: 3/5 | awe: 5/5 |
Before I’m pulled, sweating, off the stage by a long cartoonish cane, I have to talk about fish just a little bit more. Goatfish, dogfish, rāwaru, maomao, spine-tailed devil ray — there are so many other contenders with incredible features I didn’t get the chance to mention.
So if you’ve enjoyed this article, do yourself a favour and look through the other fish yourself! I researched nearly all the candidates in depth, and trust me when I say: every fish up there deserves the title. They’re all breathtakingly strange in their own way, and there is absolutely something for everyone.
I’m still voting for the hagfish, though.
Fish of the Year 2026
You can vote for up to three die-hard favourites at Fish of the Year, anytime from now until March 15th.
Youth Creature Feature is your monthly dose of Aotearoa New Zealand's wacky, whimsical, and wonderful native and endemic species.
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