Atutahi Street

Atutahi Street is one of New Plymouth’s newer streets and takes its name from the small freshwater fish that at once would have inhabited the nearby Waimea Stream.
The street is part of a new subdivision which runs off Cowling Road in Hurdon and the name was proposed by the property developer, Kaitake Investments in 2020 and supported by Ngāti Te Whiti hapū.
The land the new subdivision sits on was once the home of Westown Horticulture (now known as Westown Agriculture and Westown Haulage) but in 2019 the business relocated further up Cowling Rd towards Rataphipihi Scenic Reserve and therefore making this portion of land available for residential developments. 
The use of the word, atutahi, is particular to the Taranaki and Whanganui areas and is used to describe īnanga, or the mature form of the whitebait species, Galaxias maculatus, as they migrate upstream to spawn.
The juveniles of this species are called karohi and are one of five species of juvenile native fish caught as whitebait.
Atutahi lay their eggs in thick vegetation like grass on the river bank. This often occurs during a king tide which means the water levels are high enough for the fish to swim right into the grass. 
The eggs develop into larvae in the base of damp grass and then hatch and are carried downstream out to sea during the next king tide.
It is unclear how long it has been since whitebait were present in the Waimea Stream and whitebait are classified as at risk and declining in Taranaki by the Taranaki Regional Council.
Due to their required habitat for laying eggs it seems that the on-going development and maturation of riparian planting and fencing off stock from waterways in Taranaki will assist in creating more suitable spawning areas for this local delicacy.