The Kaituna River is a small watercourse on Banks Peninsula, New Zealand, which discharges into Lake Ellesmere / Te Waihora.

[2] The river gives its name to the steep sheep-grazed Kaituna Valley which provides access to the walking tracks and mountain tops of Mount Bradley and Mt Herbert.

[3] The river contains at least six species of native fish, including lamprey (Geotria australis), longfin eel (Anguilla dieffenbachii), shortfin eel (Anguilla australis), common bully (Gobiomorphus cotidianus), bluegill bully (G. hubbsi), and īnanga (Galaxias maculatus).

These rivers represent the easternmost limit of this threatened species, which normally nests in clear alpine lakes further inland.

Little shags (P. melanoleucos), black swans, mallard ducks, New Zealand scaup, and pūkeko have also been recorded on the river.