Coasts

NIWA aims to provide the knowledge needed for the sound environmental management of our marine resources.

  • Critter of the Week: Tokoprymno and Thouarella

    Despite our growing understanding of the role of Antarctica in driving global climate regimes and regional patterns of marine diversity, the distribution and connectivity among deep-sea species across the Southern Ocean remain poorly known.
  • Researching NIWA’s Antarctic sea ice

  • Critter of the Week: A rare find - Anuropus sp.

    This rare isopod genus Anuropus, Beddard, 1886 was collected in a mesopelagic trawl from the Chatham Rise.
  • (no image provided)

    Summer Series Week 5: The library with no books – inside NIWA’s Invertebrate Collection

    News article
    The Invertebrate Collection, housed at Greta Point in Wellington, comprises about 300,000 jars or specimens but only about 100,000 are officially registered. With new specimens being discovered all the time, there is a lot of work to do.
  • Critter of the Week: Unknown echinoid – deep-sea holasteroid

    This week’s critter is an unknown species of an unusual order of sea urchins – the Holasteroida.
  • Summer Series Week 3: Sea creatures

    News article
    Looking for something tasty on your beach for holiday dinner this summer? NIWA scientists have the lowdown on some of the most mouth-watering fish and seafood that are yours for the taking.
  • Critter of the Week: More surprising finds from the Kermadecs

    It was only about a year and a half ago that NIWA staff came back from a research voyage to the Kermadec Trench led by their colleagues from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
  • Critter of the Week: Upogebia hirtifrons - the mud shrimp

    The mud shrimp species Upogebia hirtifrons (White, 1847) is a member of the large and widespread Upogebiidae family.
  • Critter of the Week: Histioteuthis – the cock-eyed squid

    The squid genus Histioteuthis is commonly known as the violet or cock-eyed squid.
  • Critter of the Week: Iridogorgia Verrill, 1883 - the golden corals

    This week’s critter is a living deep sea treasure, in a group commonly known as the golden corals.
  • NIWA’s glider offers new understanding of ocean processes

  • New NIWA sponge study reveals many new species to science

    Media release
    Sponges are amongst the most common marine invertebrates that inhabit the New Zealand coastline, from the intertidal zone down to the continental shelf, to abyssal plains and deep ocean trenches.