Muturangi, also known as Ruamuturangi, was the son of Ohomairangi

Ohomairangi

In Māori mythology, Ohomairangi is an important ancestor who lived in Hawaiki 6 generations before the migration to Aotearoa New Zealand. He is considered the major ancestor of the people of both Te Arawa and Tainui waka ....

 and a renowned High Priest presiding over Taputapuatea marae

Taputapuatea marae

Marae Taputapuatea is a large marae complex at Opoa in Taputapuatea, on the south eastern coast of Raiatea. The site features a number of marae and other stone structures and was once considered the central temple and religious center of Eastern Polynesia....

 at Rangiatea.

Muturangi was an accomplished navigator and it was he who started the tradition of The High Priest at Taputapuatea. He was responsible for collecting and recording knowledge of deepsea voyaging across Te Moananui a Kiwa (Pacific Ocean)

Muturangi supposedly had as a familiar

Familiar spirit

In European folklore and folk-belief of the Medieval and Early Modern periods, familiar spirits were supernatural entities believed to assist witches and cunning folk in their practice of magic...

 or kaitiaki (guardian spirit), a giant octopus known as Te Wheke o Muturangi (the Octopus of Muturangi), the same octopus which others were said to have followed to reach Aotearoa New Zealand.

Another theory for the Te Wheke o Muturangi states that the [Te Wheke o Muturangi] actually refers to the many navigation paths centered on Rangiatea with the tentacles reaching out across the pacific.