Kākahi, freshwater mussel

can help clean up dirty water

Where you can find them:

In lakes and small,fast-flowing streams, this freshwater mussel can be found throughout New Zealand, although they are becoming increasingly rare. 

What they look like:

A brown, ochre and green coloured shell, they commonly grow up to 80mm in length.

Did you know:

Kākahi live out the early part of their life as a parasite on native fish such as kōaro, which transport them to a new home. As an adult, they can filter up to a litre of water per hour, cleaning the water of pollutants in the process.

Kākahi monitoring at Lake Wairarapa:

Each year, a bunch of committed citizen scientists measure the population of Kākahi in Lake Wairarapa. You can read the latest report from the project below.