Eels / tuna: Picturing Canterbury

Eels / tuna by kebabette. Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. CCL-DW-100961.

Eels being fed on Oxford Terrace. 28 July 2019.

Tuna (freshwater eels) are an important source of mahinga kai for Ngāi Tahu. The eels pictured here are New Zealand longfin eels (Anguilla dieffenbachii). Although the eels of the Ōtākaro-Avon River hunt live food at night, they have grown accustomed to being fed by people from the Avon Terraces during the day. 

Do you have any photographs of eels in Canterbury? If so, feel free to contribute to our collection.

The Discovery Wall is a large interactive exhibition which allows several people to simultaneously explore images and stories of the history of the people and places of Christchurch. It is viewable on the ground floor of Tūranga, 60 Cathedral Square, Christchurch, New Zealand or on the Mobile Discovery Wall. Images displayed on the Wall can also be found on the Discovery Wall website.

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