Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand
Open every day 10am-6pm
(except Christmas Day)
Free museum entry for New Zealanders and people living in New Zealand
Te Papa fish experts Andrew Stewart and Thom Linley, and mollusc expert Kerry Walton, are part of a team that discovered well over 100 new animal species in the depths of the Bounty Trough, east of the South Island.
There are some bizarre looking fish that live in the depths of New Zealand's waters. Take the quiz and expand your ugly fish knowledge.
Te Papa holds New Zealand’s national reference collection of fishes: the National Fish Collection. It is the largest and most comprehensive collection in the country, and it is also the largest collection of New Zealand fishes anywhere in the world.
The silvery back of the eye enhances vision in low light. Photo by Carl Struthers. Te Papa
Reminiscent of the iconic fish 'n' chip shop poster, this poster from Te Papa Press features a selection of 222 fishes from the landmark 4-volume publication The Fishes of New Zealand.
Read the story about how a sunfish washing up on our beaches and lying in our store rooms, has become the first new species of sunfish to be described in 100 years.
About three years ago, vertebrate curator Colin Miskelly made the ‘rash’ claim that the best bet for seeing a crabeater seal in New Zealand was to visit the mouth of the Hutt River in Wellington Harbour – and wait approximately 25 years.
A series of photographs showing our fish scientists carry out research on a 243kg sunfish.
Sunfish are the heaviest bony fish species alive today. Find out how large different species grow and how to weigh one.
