Across the Southern Hemisphere, galaxiid fishes provide many examples of adaptable life-histories, with partial or complete loss of migration occurring repeatedly within diadromous populations. Īnanga (Galaxias maculatus) is a widespread species with a normally migratory life-history, but non-migratory populations have established in lowland lakes in Australia, Chile, and Argentina. However, the extent of īnanga populations in NZ’s lowland lakes is poorly understood. We selected 15 lowland lakes/lagoons from the NZ Freshwater Fish Database and surveyed their tributaries for populations of lake-associated īnanga. Īnanga were found in tributaries of 5 of the 15 lakes, with a subset of 50 individuals taken at each lake for otolith analysis. Simultaneously, working in Te Waihora – Lake Ellesmere, previously considered to have robust īnanga populations, we batch-dyed migrating īnanga to determine if the lake was used for further development before these juveniles entered the tributaries. We will discuss evidence that only diadromous otolith signatures were identified for lake-associated īnanga, and, in Te Waihora, dyed individuals were immediately caught entering nearby tributaries. We conclude that NZ’s lowland lakes likely do not provide suitable habitat for īnanga due to a combination of predation, recruitment failure, and lack of food and habitat resources.