Learn about who lives in and around the bay by studying the artwork by Francine Spencer 

• Karora  Gulls
• Kāhu  Harrier Hawk
• Kāruhiruhi  Pied Shag
• Kōtuku  White Heron
• Tōrea  Oyster Catcher
• Tuna  Longfin Eel
• Kōura  Crayfish
• Parāoa  Sperm Whale
• Īnaka  Whitebait
• Pātiki  Flounder
• Kahawai
• Hēki  Eggs Pāua  Abalone
• Kuku  Green Lipped Mussel
• Pipi  Bivalve Mollusc Shellfish
• Hīnaki Māori Eel Trap is a woven basket-like pot.
• Matika (Māori fish-hooks) made from bone, stone, wood, and/or pāua shell.

Mahikakai trails were used on a seasonal rotation, so you were harvesting plants and animals at the time when they were at their best.

Tuna (Longfin eels) are a taonga (treasured) species for Māori and swim thousands of kilometers out to near the Tonga trench, where they release eggs. Once the eggs are fertilized, they develop into larvae and drift back to New Zealand to enter wetlands, lagoons, streams, and rivers. Tuna is a vital food source and can be caught using Hīnaki traps.

Tuna (longfin eel) at risk/declining

Hao (shortfin eel) Not threatened

Tuna have a longer dorsal fin, their skin wrinkles when the bend and they have a different pattern of teeth to the hao (shortfin eel).

Tuna are only found in Aoteroa NZ and swim to a deep trench near Tonga to breed when the males are 23 years and the females are 34 years on average. The adults die after breeding. Eggs hatch and then float on the currents before changing into ‘elvers’ (which look like small eels). They swim up the rivers and then slowly grow into the tuna we see as long, black fish.

Tuna are mainly active at night spending their days hiding under river banks, logs in the river etc. The use their sense of smell rather than their eyesight to hunt, they have tube nostrils. The eat live prey for example aquatic insects, worms, small fish, freshwater crayfish and even small birds like ducklings. Tuna are good climbers and can climb up waterfalls and slitter across grassland to get to a new area of water.

Māori would catch tuna in a hinaki (eel trap) woven out of harakeke (flax) and other plant materials. Hinaki could be small so that you could fold them up for easy transportation or much larger depending on the place you were looking for tuna. Tuna would then be eaten or gutted and dried on a whata (fish drying rack) to be saved for another time.

Like tuna could be kept in a pā tuna (a weir) in the river. These tuna were still alive and kept in these areas until needed so they were fresh.

Roto (lakes), awa (river), and repo (wetlands) are all important habitats of the tuna and places where māori visited to harvest tuna. Knowledge of areas that were good places to catch tuna would have been handed down through the generations as would the fishing methods.

Waitarakao Lagoon was a local area where mana whenua (people from here) would have caught tuna. The lagoon was larger and had more water in it so it made a good place to look for tuna.