48-676: Manunui ( Māori : Mananui ) is a small Whanganui River settlement, about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) east of Taumarunui on State Highway 4, in New Zealand 's King Country . It was once known as Waimarino, but John Burnand of the Ellis and Burnand sawmilling firm renamed it Manunui around 1905. Manunui is the home of the Ngāti Hinemihi and Ngāti Manunui hapū of the iwi Ngāti Tūwharetoa . Their Maniaiti Marae and Te Aroha o Ngā Mātua Tūpuna meeting house also have affiliations with
96-470: A broadleaf and podocarp forest; understory species include crown fern ( Blechnum discolor ), and a variety of other ferns and shrubs. In 1892 Alexander Hatrick was contracted by Thomas Cook & Son to carry tourists to Pipiriki on the paddle-steamer PS Waimarie , the journey was "The Rhine of Maoriland " tourist route into the interior of New Zealand. The river boat subsequently carried mail, passengers and cargo. PS Waimarie operates on
144-681: A cheap dish in the United Kingdom . During the 1990s, their numbers collapsed across Europe. They became a delicacy, and the UK's most expensive species. Eels, particularly the moray eel , are popular among marine aquarists . Eel blood is toxic to humans and other mammals, but both cooking and the digestive process destroy the toxic protein. High consumption of eels is seen in European countries leading to those eel species being considered endangered. In 2010, Greenpeace International added
192-450: A legal person". He said some people would consider it strange, but it is "no stranger than family trusts, or companies, or incorporated societies." The bill finalised 140-year-old negotiations between Māori and the government. The river will be represented by two officials, one from Māori and the other from the government. Whanga nui is a phrase meaning "big bay" or "big harbour". Some very early maps show that European settlers called
240-588: A variety of invertebrates such as mayflies, stoneflies and caddis flies. Blue duck (whio) populations can be found at the junction of the Whanganui River and the Mangatepopo and Okupata streams. The Nankeen night heron established roosts along the Whanganui River in the 1990s and is breeding in New Zealand only in this location. Much of the flora in the river basin can be characterised as
288-567: Is a monophyletic group that originated among the deep-sea eels. The earliest fossil eels are known from the Late Cretaceous ( Cenomanian ) of Lebanon . These early eels retain primitive traits such as pelvic fins and thus do not appear to be closely related to any extant taxa. Body fossils of modern eels do not appear until the Eocene , although otoliths assignable to extant eel families and even some genera have been recovered from
336-654: Is a traditional Māori food in New Zealand . In Italian cuisine , eels from the Valli di Comacchio , a swampy zone along the Adriatic coast, are especially prized, along with freshwater eels of Bolsena Lake and pond eels from Cabras, Sardinia . In northern Germany , the Netherlands , the Czech Republic , Poland , Denmark , and Sweden , smoked eel is considered a delicacy . Elvers, often fried, were once
384-440: Is also used for some other eel-shaped fish, such as electric eels (genus Electrophorus ), swamp eels (order Synbranchiformes ), and deep-sea spiny eels (family Notacanthidae). However, these other clades , with the exception of deep-sea spiny eels, whose order Notacanthiformes is the sister clade to true eels, evolved their eel-like shapes independently from the true eels. As a main rule, most eels are marine. Exceptions are
432-599: Is an adjective form of an older word, ελλυ, meaning "snake", which is directly comparable to Hittite ellu-essar- "snake pit". This myth likely came to Greece via Anatolia. In the Hittite version of the myth, the dragon is called Illuyanka : the illuy- part is cognate to the word illa , and the -anka part is cognate to angu , a word for "snake". Since the words for "snake" (and similarly shaped animals) are often subject to taboo in many Indo-European (and non-Indo-European) languages, no unambiguous Proto-Indo-European form of
480-423: Is of special and spiritual importance for Māori, who also refer to it as Te awa tupua . It was the home for a large proportion of Māori villages in pre-European times. As such, it is regarded as taonga , a special treasure. Local iwi first petitioned Parliament in the 1870s, and efforts have since been made to safeguard the river and give it the respect it deserves. For the same reason, the river has been one of
528-569: Is part of the Whanganui National Park , though the river itself is not part of the park. The river rises on the northern slopes of Mount Tongariro , one of the three active volcanoes of the central plateau , close to Lake Rotoaira . It flows to the north-west before turning south-west at Taumarunui . From here it runs through the rough, bush-clad hill country of the King Country before turning south-east and flowing past
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#1732801531650576-413: Is said that Taumarunui was the highest reach of the Whanganui River that was navigable by river boat. The river flow was managed by the "Wanganui River Trust Board" which built containing walls to direct and deepen the rivers channels for river traffic. Even so, river boats sometimes found it necessary to winch themselves up the more difficult rapids. The River Trust existed from 1891 to 1940. The flow of
624-542: Is used as a metaphor for Nazi atrocities, and the sight of eels being killed by a fisherman triggers the madness of the protagonist's mother. Sinister implications of eels fishing are also referenced in Jo Nesbø 's Cockroaches , the second book of the Harry Hole detective series. The book's background includes a Norwegian village where eels in the nearby sea are rumored to feed on the corpses of drowned humans, making
672-666: The Campanian and Maastrichtian , indicating some level of diversification among the extant groups prior to the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction , which is also supported by phylogenetic divergence estimates. One of these otolith taxa, the mud-dwelling Pythonichthys arkansasensis , appears to have thrived in the aftermath of the K-Pg extinction, based on its abundance. Taxonomy based on Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes : Order Anguilliformes In some classifications,
720-481: The European eel , Japanese eel , and American eel to its seafood red list. Japan consumes more than 70% of the global eel catch. The English name "eel" descends from Old English ǣl , Common Germanic *ēlaz . Also from the common Germanic are West Frisian iel , Dutch aal , German Aal , and Icelandic áll . Katz (1998) identifies a number of Indo-European cognates, among them
768-501: The Matapuna Bridge of 1903-1904 near Taumarunui . Eel see text Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes ( / æ ŋ ˈ ɡ w ɪ l ɪ f ɔːr m iː z / ), which consists of eight suborders, 20 families , 164 genera , and about 1000 species . Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage and are usually predators . The term "eel"
816-572: The Ngāti Hāua hapū of Ngāti Hekeāwai and Ngāti Hāua , and with the Ngāti Tūwharetoa . Another marae in the area, Matua Kore Marae and its Matua Kore meeting house, is affiliated with the Ngāti Hāua hapū of Ngāti Hāuaroa , Ngāti Hinewai and Ngāti Poutama . Ellis and Burnand opened a sawmill in Manunui in 1901, specialising in milling kahikatea to make boxes of its odourless wood for
864-788: The Northeast . Freshwater eels, known as Kusia in Assamese , are eaten with curry, often with herbs. The European eel and other freshwater eels are mostly eaten in Europe and the United States , and is considered critically endangered. A traditional east London food is jellied eels , although the demand has significantly declined since World War II. The Spanish cuisine delicacy angulas consists of elver (young eels) sautéed in olive oil with garlic ; elvers usually reach prices of up to 1000 euro per kg. New Zealand longfin eel
912-604: The catadromous genus Anguilla and the freshwater moray , which spend most of their life in freshwater, the anadromous rice-paddy eel , which spawns in freshwater, and the freshwater snake eel Stictorhinus . Eels are elongated fish, ranging in length from 5 cm (2 in) in the one-jawed eel ( Monognathus ahlstromi ) to 4 m (13 ft) in the slender giant moray . Adults range in weight from 30 g (1 oz) to well over 25 kg (55 lb). They possess no pelvic fins , and many species also lack pectoral fins . The dorsal and anal fins are fused with
960-487: The caudal fin, forming a single ribbon running along much of the length of the animal. Eels swim by generating waves that travel the length of their bodies. They can swim backward by reversing the direction of the wave. Most eels live in the shallow waters of the ocean and burrow into sand, mud, or amongst rocks. Most eel species are nocturnal , and thus are rarely seen. Sometimes, they are seen living together in holes or "eel pits". Some eels also live in deeper water on
1008-668: The slender giant moray , which reaches 4 m (13 ft). Eels begin life as flat and transparent larvae , called leptocephali . Eel larvae drift in the sea's surface waters, feeding on marine snow , small particles that float in the water. Eel larvae then metamorphose into glass eels and become elvers before finally seeking out their juvenile and adult habitats. Some individuals of anguillid elvers remains in brackish and marine areas close to coastlines, but most of them enter freshwater where they travel upstream and are forced to climb up obstructions, such as weirs , dam walls, and natural waterfalls. Gertrude Elizabeth Blood found that
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#17328015316501056-684: The 230-kilometre (140 mi) stretch between Whanganui and Taumarunui. The complete list of bridges in order from source to sea are: Whanganui – A bridge over the Whanganui to connect Raetihi to Taranaki was to be constructed in the Mangaparua area (where the Bridge to Nowhere ) is located, but this plan was never implemented. The oldest bridges over the river are rail bridges; the Aramoho Rail Bridge of 1876 in Whanganui and
1104-648: The Hatrick boats, MV Wairua , has also been restored and can be seen on the river. During the early 20th century , the Wanganui River, as it was then called, was one of the country's top tourist attractions, its rugged beauty and the Māori kāinga (villages) that dotted the banks attracting thousands of tourists a year. With the completion of the North Island Main Trunk railway, the need for
1152-518: The Old English word for "hedgehog", which is igil (meaning "snake eater"), and perhaps in the egi- of Old High German egidehsa "wall lizard". According to this theory, the name Bellerophon ( Βελλεροφόντης , attested in a variant Ἐλλεροφόντης in Eustathius of Thessalonica ) is also related, translating to "the slayer of the serpent" ( ahihán ). In this theory, the ελλερο-
1200-650: The Paleobiology Database: Freshwater eels ( unagi ) and marine eels ( conger eel , anago ) are commonly used in Japanese cuisine ; foods such as unadon and unajū are popular, but expensive. Eels are also very popular in Chinese cuisine , and are prepared in many different ways. Hong Kong eel prices have often reached 1000 HKD (128.86 US Dollars) per kg, and once exceeded 5000 HKD per kg. In India , eels are popularly eaten in
1248-475: The Whanganui River and had the effect of killing much of the fish life downstream. In the aftermath of the poisoning, eels as large as 8.2 kilograms (18 lb) and trout as large as 2.3 kilograms (5.1 lb) were washed up dead along the banks of the river. The tributary Whakapapa River had fish losses due to a lahar from Ruapehu in April 1975. Possibly this had effects downstream. Māori legend explains
1296-626: The arrival of Europeans, the area around the Whanganui was densely inhabited and with the arrival of the colonial settlers, the area near the river's mouth became a major trading post. Although it was already a significant route to the interior, the major development of the river as a trade route was by Alexander Hatrick , who started the first regular steam-boat service in 1892 . The service eventually ran to Taumarunui where rail and coach services connected with points north. One of Hatrick's original boats, paddle-steamer PS Waimarie , has been restored and runs scheduled sailings in Whanganui. Another of
1344-514: The butter export industry. After the North Island Main Trunk Railway reached the settlement in 1903, the mill grew to be the largest in the region. It closed in 1942. Manunui became a manufacturing and farming centre as the native forest around it was milled and cleared. At one point it was a town district (requiring a population of at least 500; the population was 515 in 1911), but merged back with Taumarunui county in
1392-492: The continental shelves and over the slopes deep as 4,000 m (13,000 ft). Only members of the Anguilla regularly inhabit fresh water, but they, too, return to the sea to breed. The heaviest true eel is the European conger . The maximum size of this species has been reported as reaching a length of 3 m (10 ft) and a weight of 110 kg (240 lb). Other eels are longer, but do not weigh as much, such as
1440-442: The eel fisheries at Ballisodare were greatly improved by the hanging of loosely plaited grass ladders over barriers, enabling elvers to ascend more easily. Several sets of classifications of eels exist; some, such as FishBase which divide eels into 20 families, whereas other classification systems such as ITIS and Systema Naturae 2000 include additional eel families, which are noted below. Genomic studies indicate that there
1488-918: The family Cyematidae of bobtail snipe eels is included in the Anguilliformes, but in the FishBase system that family is included in the order Saccopharyngiformes . The electric eel of South America is not a true eel but is a South American knifefish more closely related to the carps and catfishes . Phylogeny based on Johnson et al. 2012. Protanguillidae Synaphobranchidae Heterenchelyidae Myrocongridae Muraenidae [REDACTED] Chlopsidae Derichthyidae Nettastomatidae Congridae [REDACTED] Ophichthidae Muraenesocidae Moringuidae Eurypharyngidae Saccopharyngidae [REDACTED] Monognathidae Cyematidae [REDACTED] Nemichthyidae Serrivomeridae Anguillidae [REDACTED] Based on
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1536-559: The formation of the river in the Mount Taranaki legend . When Mount Taranaki left the central plateau for the coast, the land was split open, and the river filled the rift. Another Māori legend explains that after Māui caught the giant fish that was to become the North Island of New Zealand, known as Te Ika-a-Māui, he prayed to Ranginui who then sent two tear drops to land on Māui's fish. These two tear drops then became
1584-434: The late 1970s; today is functionally a suburb of Taumarunui. Manunui School is a co-educational state primary school for Year 1 to 8 students, with a roll of 141 as of August 2024. Whanganui River The Whanganui River is a major river in the North Island of New Zealand . It is the country's third-longest river, and has special status owing to its importance to the region's Māori people . In March 2017 it became
1632-489: The lower stretches of the river, including dinner cruises to Avoca Hotel at Upokongaro and trips to Hipango Park for overnight camping. On 18 June 2010 the Adventurer 2 river boat embarked, attempting to make the 230-kilometre (140 mi) voyage to Taumarunui . The first voyage to Taumarunui in 82 years. The Adventurer 2 now offers this trip to tourist as an historic alternative to jet boating and canoeing
1680-521: The most fiercely contested regions of the country in claims before the Waitangi Tribunal for the return of tribal lands. The Whanganui River claim is heralded as the longest-running legal case in New Zealand history with petitions and court action in the 1930s, Waitangi Tribunal hearings in the 1990s, the ongoing Tieke Marae land occupation since 1993, and the highly publicised Moutoa Gardens occupation in 1995. On 30 August 2012 agreement
1728-496: The river has been altered with the diversion of water from the headwaters by the Tongariro Power Scheme and into Lake Taupō . This may have been a contributing factor to the demise of the raft race and means river boats can no longer make the entire trip to Taumarunui during the drier months (see below). Despite being New Zealand's longest navigable river, the Whanganui has few bridges. Only two are located on
1776-600: The river the Knowsley River , however it was known as the Wanganui River until its name was officially changed to Whanganui in 1991, respecting the wishes of local iwi. Part of the reason for this change was also to avoid confusion with the Wanganui River in the South Island . The city at the river's mouth was called Wanganui until December 2009, when the government decided that while either spelling
1824-485: The river, calling it the Rhine of New Zealand . The settlement of Jerusalem is of particular note. Jerusalem was home to two famous New Zealanders, Mother Mary Joseph Aubert , whose Catholic mission is still located at Jerusalem, and New Zealand poet James K. Baxter , who established a commune at the settlement in 1970 . Other settlements are Tieke Kāinga , Pipiriki , Rānana , Matahiwi , and Koriniti . The river
1872-665: The river. Though in low water flows it cannot make it all the way to Taumarunui. The Whanganui River was the supply artery for the early communities along its banks. River boats used to ply the river, and also into the Ohura River and Ongarue Rivers unless these routes were log jammed after floods. Between 1891 and 1958 the Alexander Hatrick Riverboat service operated on the Whanganui River. The paddle-steamer Wairere ordered from London and shipped in sections then assembled in Whanganui in late 1891. It
1920-466: The rivers Whanganui and Waikato . According to Māori tradition, the river was first explored by Tamatea, one of the leaders of the original migration to the new land, who travelled up the river and on to Lake Taupō . Many places along the river are named in his honour. The Whanganui River was an important communication route to the central North Island, both for Māori and for settlers, despite many stretches of white water and over 200 rapids. Prior to
1968-766: The second part of the Latin word for eels, anguilla , attested in its simplex form illa (in a glossary only), and the Greek word for "eel", egkhelys (the second part of which is attested in Hesychius as elyes ). The first compound member, anguis ("snake"), is cognate to other Indo-European words for "snake" (compare Old Irish escung "eel", Old High German unc "snake", Lithuanian angìs , Greek ophis, okhis , Vedic Sanskrit áhi , Avestan aži , Armenian auj, iž , Old Church Slavonic *ǫžь , all from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ogʷʰis ). The word also appears in
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2016-536: The small settlements of Pipiriki and Jerusalem , before reaching the coast at the city of Whanganui . It is one of the country's longest navigable rivers. The river valley changed in the 1843 Wanganui earthquake . In the 1970s a minor eruption from Mount Ruapehu spilled some of the contents from the Ruapehu Crater Lake (the same root cause of the Tangiwai disaster ). This toxic water entered
2064-510: The steamboat route to the north greatly diminished, and the main economic activity of the river area became forestry . During the 1930s , attempts were made to open the river valley up as farmland, but they were not successful. One legacy of that time is the Bridge to Nowhere , built to provide access to settlements long since abandoned. In 1912–13 the French filmmaker Gaston Méliès shot a (now lost) documentary film The River Wanganui about
2112-874: The town is located. The daylight passage in the spring of elvers upstream along the Thames was at one time called "eel fare". The word 'elver' is thought to be a corruption of "eel fare". A famous attraction on the French Polynesian island of Huahine (part of the Society Islands ) is the bridge across a stream hosting three- to six-foot-long eels, deemed sacred by local culture. Eel fishing in Nazi -era Danzig plays an important role in Günter Grass ' novel The Tin Drum . The cruelty of humans to eels
2160-554: The word for eel can be reconstructed. It may have been *ēl(l)-u- , *ēl(l)-o- , or something similar. The large lake of Almere , which existed in the early Medieval Netherlands , got its name from the eels which lived in its water (the Dutch word for eel is aal or ael , so: " ael mere " = "eel lake"). The name is preserved in the new city of Almere in Flevoland , given in 1984 in memory of this body of water on whose site
2208-414: The world's second natural resource (after Te Urewera ) to be given its own legal identity, with the rights, duties and liabilities of a legal person . The Whanganui Treaty settlement brought the longest-running litigation in New Zealand history to an end. With a length of 290 kilometres (180 mi), the Whanganui is the country's third-longest river. Much of the land to either side of the upper reaches
2256-683: Was acceptable, Crown agencies would use the Whanganui spelling. See Controversy over Wanganui/Whanganui spelling Native fish species in the river include Cran's bully , upland bully , climbing galaxias (kōaro), longfin and short-finned eels , pouched lamprey , shortjaw kokopu , torrentfish , New Zealand smelt and black flounder. Introduced brown and rainbow trout are found, although not in high numbers, and there have been reports of catfish. Other native aquatic species include koura and declining numbers of New Zealand freshwater mussels . The river and its tributaries are home to
2304-550: Was reached that entitled the Whanganui River to a legal identity , a first in the world, and on 15 March 2017 the relevant settlement was passed into law (Te Awa Tupua (Whanganui River Claims Settlement) Act 2017) by the New Zealand Parliament . Chris Finlayson , the Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, said the river would have an identity "with all the corresponding rights, duties and liabilities of
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