#2582 - Aguilla dieffenbachii - New Zealand Longfin Eel
AKA ōrea.
Aotearoa's only endemic freshwater eel (the other two are variously also found in Australia, or introduced from Australia) and the largest. Females can be over a meter and a half long.
A very important food for the Māori, but now numbers have seriously declined and the species is considered endangered. One reason is that they only mate once, and they take 20 to 60 years to reach adulthood. When they do, they leave freshwater and head far out to sea to the ocean near Tonga, breed, and die. Only a handful of the 1 to 10 million eggs each female lays will survive to repeat the process.
If they can't find a way back to the sea (rare, since they can cross open ground if they have to) the females reabsorb their eggs and can live past a century. The ones in the tank at the Hotitika National Kiwi Centre used to live in a pond behind a canning plant where food was abundant and life carefree.
The returning young are pretty agile too, as their swim upstream - elvers have been seen climbing near vertical surfaces over 40m high.
The eels are omnivorous and opportunistic feeders - you may have seen the video where they descend on a pizza like elongated pirahna.
Hokitika, Aotearoa New Zealand.