Jester House Tame Eels

The Aporo stream is the natural habitat of the New Zealand long finned eel (tuna)

The tame eels come every day from September until May to be hand feed. This is your chance to get close to these amazing native megafauna.

Life Cycle

Adult eels: spawning at sea

Adult eels probably spawn at some depth in warm seas. New Zealand’s shortfin eels produce 1.5–3 million eggs, and the longfins 1–20 million eggs. Males fertilise the eggs. After spawning, the adults die.

Larvae: drifting to land

Fertilised eggs hatch at the surface and become leaf-shaped larvae, floating on ocean currents towards the coast. They have teeth, but it is not clear for what purpose – they may store calcium for bone development. Their skin may absorb nutrients, as researchers have not found food in the larvae.

Glass eels: migrating into estuaries

Once the larvae reach land, an extraordinary transformation takes place: they become slender, transparent eels, known as glass eels. They arrive at New Zealand’s coast from July to December, with numbers peaking in spring (August–October) – the time of whitebait migration. Glass eels migrate into river mouths or estuaries in astounding numbers.

Elvers: swimming upriver

Glass eels soon turn grey-brown, and in this form they are known as elvers. They migrate upriver, often in swarms and usually at night. Young elvers can climb waterfalls, but lose this skill as they grow.

Adult eels

Elvers become adults, with bigger heads and fatter bodies. After many years in fresh water, eels migrate back down the waterways to the sea. It is thought that males fertilise the eggs once the females spawn out at sea.