mokomoko
1. (noun) lizard, skink, gecko - a general term. Because of their spiritual association with the atua Whiro, whose realm was of things evil, tuatara and geckos were feared.
Ko te rite o te Hauhau kei te ngārara nei kei te mokomoko pārae, kua patua e te tangata, motu ana te hiku, kua mate kē te tinana, kei te oioi tonu te hiku (TWM 9/9/1865:5). / The Hauhau are like this reptile, the gecko, that a person has killed, when the tail is cut off and the body has already died, the tail continues to quiver.
See also moko
2. (noun) torrentfish, Cheimarrichthys fosteri - a smallish, stocky fish with a strongly arched back and flattened ventral surface, large eyes on top of a head shaped like an inverted shovel, the mouth below , and the lower jaw distinctly shorter than the upper. An endemic fish found in larger, braided, gravel, open rivers of the North and South Islands. Solitary and secretive.
See also panoko
