Marine invertebrates

Jellyfish blooms are likely to be a common sight this summer with rising ocean temperatures one of the main causes of substantial population growths.

Check out the latest critter of the deep, with Sadie Mills!

Small orange flecks spotted floating around in a respiration chamber at a NIWA laboratory have led to a discovery about the spawning habits of a deep-sea stony coral in New Zealand waters.

An interactive guide to the sea slugs of New Zealand.

The NIWA Invertebrate Collection (NIC) holds specimens from almost all invertebrate phyla.

This really cute little octopus is from cold Antarctic waters.

Have you ever seen these shells on the beach?

After a decade-long effort, NIWA’s latest Biodiversity Memoir has just rolled off the presses. Written by marine biologist Kareen Schnabel, the 350-page treatise presents everything we currently know about the different kinds of squat lobster living in New Zealand’s waters.

Five specialist NIWA divers were left ‘gasping’ during their recent plunge under the ice near Scott Base.

Corals can live hundreds to thousands of years. What do we really know about them?

Scientists mapping the Hauraki Gulf seafloor have discovered huge colonies of tubeworms up to 1.5 metres high and collectively covering hundreds of metres providing vital habitats for plants and animals.

A giant squid and several glow-in-the-dark sharks were surprise finds for NIWA scientists last month on the Chatham Rise during a voyage to survey hoki, New Zealand’s most valuable commercial fish species.