1. (noun) humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae - the most abundant large whale of Aotearoa/New Zealand. It is a baleen whale growing to 16 m long and has large knobby-edged flippers up to 4 m long.
(Te Māhuri Textbook (Ed. 2): 4;)
Ko te paikea me te parāoa ka hopukina i ēnei wā (Te Ara 1912). / The humpback and sperm whales were caught during these seasons.
See also hamupēke
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