In
Polynesian mythology, Tuna is a god of
eels. In
Hawaiian mythology he fights with
Māui, who is having an affair with his wife
Hina. Māui kills him, cuts off his head, and plants it near his home. A green shoot emerges from the spot where the head was buried, and grows into the first
coconut palm.[1] In the mythology of
Mangaia Tuna is the lover of Hine, and asks that his head be cut off and planted in order to stop a flood. A coconut shoot grows from the head.[2][3] A variant of the story is told in the
Samoan myth of
Sina and the Eel.[4][5]
References
^Rachel S. McCoppin (2015). The Lessons of Nature in Mythology. McFarland. p. 41.