Te Wheke-a-Muturangi

In Māori mythology, Te Wheke-a-Muturangi is a monstrous octopus destroyed in Whekenui Bay, Tory Channel or at Patea by Kupe the navigator.

Here a great battle took place, and when the octopus appeared to be about to flee, Kupe cut off its arms with his adze, killing it (Tregear 1891: 184, 620).

In the traditions of the Ngāti Ranginui people of Tauranga, Te Wheke-a-Muturangi was killed by their ancestor Tamatea, and is not associated with Kupe.

Another theory for Te Wheke-a-Muturangi states that the name actually refers to the many navigation paths centered on Raiatea with tentacles reaching out across the Pacific at least as far as the edges of the Polynesian Triangle (Tetahiotupa 2009).

[1] In French Polynesian oral tradition this octopus is also known as "Taumata-Feʻe-Faʻatupu-Hau" (Great Kraken of Prosperity) and "Tumu-Raʻi-Fenua" (Beginning-of-Heaven-and-Earth).