sports in maori

poitarawhiti= netball

tēnihi= tennis

pāhiketepaoro= basketball

eke ngaru= surf

eke hōiho= horse riding

tarai= rugby

tarai= golf

kua pau [te] hau= running

whanapao= football

kaunga= swimming

the Banded Kokopu

Sophia Smith

Banded Kokopu

Hey. Im sophia, and today the topic is about the small but magnificent Banded kokopu.

You can find this fish on the beds of rivers and streams mainly under large rocks. The locations that have said to be found  are mainly the Chatham and Rakiura island in the north part of new zealand.

The banded Kokopu is 20 cm as well as getting up to 25cm long. One of its best features are its snake skin pattern on its back although some of these fish have more of a leopard pattern and its belly is pale as well as its fins. Some that have been spotted are said to look like tiny eels.

Their Life cycle starts off as little eggs placed around plants which is in the estuary part of the water, then the eggs turn into Larvae which are in the deep part of the sea, then to whitebait which is placed in the Estuary part again, then turn into Banded Kokopu which swim in the fresh shallow water parts.

The Banded Kokopu feeds off insects that fall into the water. How they breath is by swallowing water then pump it over their gills.  

The Banded Kokopu is one of our many stream creatures.

Do you want to help our insects and fish?

Do you want the Banded Kokopu to stay alive?

Do you want to help them in any way you can?

Do you?

1.Dish soap=This contains the chemical triclosan. This chemical can cause infertility, early puberty, and other hormone disorders in animals

2.Golf balls= they look like eggs and fish like eating them so they will eat the ball which is bad for there insides.

3.Medications= When you take a pill, the body breaks it down and gets absorbed into the bloodstream. Whatever parts aren’t absorbed into our blood gets converted into water soluble particles that get excreted in urine which goes into the sewage system. Anxiety, anti-depressants, and birth control pills have been found in nearly all public waters. This makes the fish act quite strange, as if they are on drugs them self.

One word.

Pollution!

We have rubbish bins for a reason!

Thankyou.

Websites used: http://www.onegreenplanet.org/animalsandnature/5-weird-ways-our-products-affect-animals/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banded_kokopu

https://www.niwa.co.nz/freshwater-and-estuaries/nzffd/NIWA-fish-atlas/fish-species/banded_kokopu

river recount

River Recount

Just another day, another bike ride. 2 years ago I was on my bike riding with one of my best friends (Pearl). We had just been playing at the park in Te Awanga and were heading back towards the campsite that my friend charlie’s grandpa owns. It was so cold that day, that I couldn't help tuck my fingers tightly away into the sleeves. We could hear the crashing waves beside us. We were planning on going to a hut that my dad showed me a couple of years ago. After all we were freezing, exhausted, and very much bored.

Over the small bridge to the sand, we hopped off our bikes. We pushed them up to a large ragged log lying on the ground as we realised that the river crossing right over into the sea. So we couldn't take them with us. The chance of them getting stolen obviously didn't occur to us (after all we were only year 5s)

We started to panic a little as we had no clue how we would cross. There seemed to be some teenage boys hanging on either side of the river which made this situation even worse. They could see that Pearl and I wanted to cross over and they were excited to see us try. For a second Pearl and I looked at each there and thought (are we really going to do this) But that didn't stop us! We took our sneakers and socks off and leaned them against the log. The river was so ruff it was terrifying. The motion of the river was in waves so when one past that would be the best time to run across.

3, 2, 1, go!! We ran down the slope into the freezing water. It was so hard to keep you balance as the fast water was pushing you to the side. We got around to the middle of the lake and we started to panick. We could see the next wave coming and we new we wouldn't make it to the other side in time for it to pass.

The teenage boys were staring and started to giggle.   Just before the wave hit us we tried to jump but we both slipped on the slippery rocks and fell to the ground drenched in our wet clothes. At that second of course the boys couldn't stop laughing. But we picked ourselves up and walked across to the other side, back onto the sand.

Shivering like a fly does when you spray it with fly killer, we fell to the sand. Looked at eachother with relief. Burst out laughing.

The End.