Krom River or Kromme River ( af, Krommerivier) is a river in the

Eastern Cape Province The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in 1994 ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. The river flows into the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

through an

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

on the north side of

St Francis Bay St Francis Bay ( af, St Francisbaai) is a holiday town in Sarah Baartman District Municipality in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, roughly one hour’s drive from Port Elizabeth. On 11 November 2012 a fire destroyed 76 homes, almost ...

, west of

Port Elizabeth Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, Sou ...

. The Krom river flows in an ESE direction and is approximately 109 km long with a catchment area of 1,085 km. The Churchill Dam and the

Impofu Dam Impofu Dam is a combined rock-fill/earth-fill type dam located on the Kromme River, near Humansdorp, Eastern Cape, South Africa. It was established in 1983 and its primary purpose is to serve for municipal and industrial use. The hazard potential ...

are dams on the Krom River. The latter is located near

Humansdorp Humansdorp is a small town and surrounding district in the Eastern Cape of South Africa, with a population of around 29,000 during the South African National Census of 2011, census of 2011. It is part of the Kouga Local Municipality of the Sara ...

. Presently this river is part of the Fish to Tsitsikama Water Management Area.

Ecology

In 1995 specimens of the

Cape galaxias The Cape galaxias (''Galaxias zebratus'') is a species of freshwater fish of the family (biology), family Galaxiidae. It is a small fish, rarely larger than 6 cm, that inhabits clear streams, rivers and ponds of South Africa. It shares the ...

''(Galaxias zebratus)'', a South African fish species

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the Cape Floristic Region, were found in the Krom River. Until then it had been thought that its distribution was restricted to the area between the Keurbooms and the Olifants River. Although in South Africa this relatively delicate fish is only classified as

near threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify fo ...

, in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

species of the same genus were driven to

extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed and ...

by competing

salmonid Salmonidae is a family of ray-finned fish that constitutes the only currently extant family in the order Salmoniformes . It includes salmon (both Atlantic and Pacific species), trout (both ocean-going and landlocked), chars, freshwater whitefis ...

s and other

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

of fish."Biodiversity, Alien trout, and the So what attitude"
Since the beginning of 2021 there have been a high number of bull sharks present in the river.

References

External links

IUCN Red List - Galaxias zebratusWorking for Wetlands - Krom River
Rivers of the Eastern Cape Internal borders of South Africa {{SouthAfrica-river-stub

Ecology

See also

References

External links