Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha | University of Canterbury (UC) School of Biological Sciences researcher Dr. Ben Crichton has studied kōkopu—whitebait species that can live for 10 years or more. Whitebait is the collective term for the juveniles of six species of freshwater fish. Nocturnal, territorial and competitive, the three kōkopu species have received less research attention than īnanga, which make up most of the whitebait catch.