On 1 July 2025, NIWA merged with GNS Science to become Earth Sciences New Zealand.

A spiny variation of the species Ophiactis abyssicola cuspidata

A spiny variation of the species Ophiactis abyssicola cuspidata photographed on a piece of the branching stony coral Solenosmilia variabilis, which it uses as a perch to filter feed up off the seafloor. Collected from Hartless seamount on the Chatham Rise at 1140 m. Credit: Owen Anderson, NIWA, Seamounts: their importance to fisheries and marine ecosystems.