Punga

Strange animals, as this ray, are Punga's children.

Punga is the ancestor of sharks, lizards, rays, and all deformed, ugly things. All ugly and strange animals are Punga’s children. Hence the saying Te aitanga a Punga (the offspring of Punga) used to describe an ugly person. Punga is a son of Tangaroa, the god of the sea, and when Tāwhirimātea (god of storms) made war against his brothers after they separated Rangi and Papa (sky and earth), the two sons of Punga, Ikatere and Tū-te-wehiwehi, had to flee for their lives. Ikatere fled to the sea, and became the ancestor of certain fishes, while Tū-te-wehiwehi took refuge in the forest, and became the ancestor of lizards. As is appropriate for a son of Tangaroa, Punga’s name has a maritime origin – in the Māori language, ‘punga’ means ‘anchor stone’ – in tropical Polynesia, related words refer to coral stone, also used as an anchor