An old Maori said to me that there were three kinds of eels that he knew. The horepara is a light green, with white belly and white under jaw, and is good for eating. The arokehe is a) black eel, with big head, strong jaw, thick skin, and does not taste very good. Owing to the thickness of its skin another name for it is kirirua (" two skins" or "double skin"). The tunapois still bigger in the head than the arokehe and tapers to a very small tail. It has the same kind of skin as the kirirua, and is not eaten by the Maori but thrown away when caught.
National library of new zeland
National library of new zeland