Coasts

The Government’s latest National Science Challenge announced today represents the single biggest investment in ocean-related research for New Zealand.

While the world’s crustacean experts gather in Frankfurt for the 8th International Crustacean Congress (including three of our own NIWA scientists), we of course have to celebrate a crustacean.

Most octopus species live on or close to the bottom, but there are exceptions.

Continuing our series ‘the face behind the name’, this week’s critter takes a closer look at the prominent 19th century naturalist Theodore Lyman III and the species Ophiomusium lymani.

We guess we would look grumpy too if our common name was ‘wrinkled swimming crab’.

Who doesn’t want to have a species named after them? It’s usually one of the ultimate acknowledgements and the taxonomist describing the species can honour colleagues who have made a particular contribution to a field of science or have provided support for their work.

This delicate little gorgonian coral was collected from around 1300 metres depth from the Louisville seamount chain east of New Zealand.

If this is looking familiar, you may have read the NIWA press release or one of the many news sites that featured the exciting discovery of this living fossil.

This week we introduce to you a rare species of squid.

Sea pens are generally found in deep sea soft sediment habitats (rarely are they encountered by divers).

Award-winning underwater photographer Richie Robinson spotted this little common euphausid shrimp Nyctiphanes half emerging from a polyp of the zoanthid at the Poor Knights Islands.

This video has been produced to highlight ocean acidification as a potential issue affecting the NZ shellfish aquaculture industry