{"id":592992,"date":"2026-09-07T14:58:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T14:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/592992\/"},"modified":"2026-09-07T14:58:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T14:58:19","slug":"expedition-team-has-unforgettable-encounter-with-one-of-new-zealands-most-incredible-creatures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/592992\/","title":{"rendered":"Expedition team has &#8220;unforgettable encounter&#8221; with one of New Zealand&#8217;s most incredible creatures"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>An expedition team in New Zealand came across a group of remarkable eels before the animals set off on a migration of over 1,000 miles to breed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The New Zealand longfin eel (Anguilla dieffenbachii) is the country\u2019s largest and only endemic freshwater eel, with an extraordinary life cycle,\u201d says Andi Cross, expedition lead at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.edgesofearth.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Edges of Earth<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;These eels spend between 25 and 80 years in rivers, lakes and wetlands before making a single, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/mammals\/10-amazing-mammal-migrations\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">epic migration<\/a> to breed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Unforgettable encounter&#8221;: the Edges of Earth Expedition comes face-to-face with almost 30 New Zealand longfin eels. Credit: Edges of Earth<\/p>\n<p>From New Zealand, they travel all the way to Tonga where the females lay their\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.doc.govt.nz\/nature\/native-animals\/freshwater-fish\/eels\/#:~:text=Longfin%20eels%20breed%20only%20once,by%20drifting%20on%20ocean%20currents.\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">eggs<\/a>\u00a0in deep waters, which are fertilised by the males. This is how the animals end their lifecycle: after breeding, they die. When the eggs hatch, the larvae float back to New Zealand on ocean currents. There \u201cthey begin the cycle anew,\u201d Cross says.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Known as tuna in M\u0101ori, longfin eels are a cultural treasure (taonga) with deep historical and ecological significance,\u201d adds Cross. \u201cBut their future is uncertain \u2013 habitat loss, overfishing and environmental pressures have led to population declines, making conservation efforts more critical than ever.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Image and video credit: Edges of Earth<\/p>\n<p>More wildlife stories from around the world<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An expedition team in New Zealand came across a group of remarkable eels before the animals set off&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592993,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-592992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}