A creature of mystery: New Zealand’s love-hate relationship with eels

Native species have been revered, feared, hunted and tamed. Now experts hope revulsion can give way to fascination

For many years, the top-rated attraction in the Tasman district of New Zealand was a cafe famed for its rural setting, seafood chowder - and tame eels.

For a few dollars you could buy a pottle of mince and a wooden stick to take down to the stream, where a blue-black mass was shining, writhing, waiting.