īnanga
1. (noun) inanga, whitebait, Galaxias maculatus - a small silvery-white native fish with a slender body. Found in streams, rivers, lakes, swamps and pools throughout the coastal regions of Aotearoa/New Zealand up to 215 km inland. Forms small to large schools. Maximum size 190 mm. Adults mature at 1 year and migrate downstream on new or full moons to spawn when the spring tide floods marginal vegetation. Eggs are left amongst the vegetation out of the water and hatch at the next spring tide.
Ko te hao hopu i ngā īnanga me ngā ngāore, he hiraka mā (HP 1991:17). / The net for catching whitebait and smelt was of white silk.
2. (noun) a whitish, pale grey-green or creamy-coloured variety of greenstone.
Ko te pounamu tuatahi i kitea e ia, he īnanga; i kitea atu ki te īnanga ika nei, e tau ana mai i roto i te awa; kātahi ka tahuri ki te haohao, ka whātoro te ringa o Hine-te-uira-i-waho ki te wai, ka riro ake te kōwhatu hei punga mō te kupenga haohao, kia totohu ai ki roto i te wai. Ka kitea, e! he kōwhatu rerekē tēnei kōwhatu; ka kīia tēnā kōwhatu he īnanga (JPS 1913:113). / The first type of greenstone he saw was the kind called 'īnanga', because it was seen with īnanga the fish (whitebait), which he proceeded to catch. When Hine-te-uira-i-waho stretched out her hand into the water to get a stone as a sinker for the net, to sink it in the water, this stone was seen to be quite different, hence the name 'īnanga'.
3. (noun) grass tree, Dracophyllum longifolium - a shrub from 1 m to 10 m tall with black, deeply fissured bark. Leaves are longitudinally channelled and minutely serrate. Found in the South Island and Stewart Island, except in eastern Nelson, Marlborough and Canterbury. Also known as īnaka.
