A recent expedition to one of the deepest places on Earth has discovered one of the most enigmatic creatures in the deep sea: the 'supergiant' amphipod.

Scientists at NIWA and Auckland University have discovered that the fouling of vessels by marine creatures is greatly increased by the underwater sounds generated by the vessels themselves.

When you leave the beach this summer, the memory of a great holiday can be savoured with a sea shell. Lift it up to your ear, and you hear the roar of the sea once more.

The 'yeti crab' generated media attention worldwide when the first species was found around deep-sea hydrothermal vents off the Easter Islands at around 2200 m depth (Macpherson, Jones & Segonzac, 2005).

NIWA's research vessel Tangaroa will set sail for the Chatham Rise tonight to improve our understanding of how marine ecosystems affect commercially exploited fish, and how commercial fisheries affect the marine food-web. The Chatham Rise, a large plateau between the South Island and Chatham Islands, is our most productive fishing ground.

Exotic aquatic plants, introduced to New Zealand for the aquarium and ornamental pond trade, are silently invading our waterways, but new research by NIWA scientists is helping to lower this risk by finding native alternatives for the trade.

NIWA's research vessel Tangaroa has just completed a very successful voyage of habitats of significance for marine organisms and biodiversity. "We were amazed by what we saw," says NIWA's Dr Mark Morrison, programme leader.

Over 42 days, split across two voyages, the Tangaroa worked its way down the country and back, working 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It surveyed habitat and biodiversity hotspots around New Zealand's expansive continental shelf.

New research on the effectiveness of the herbicide endothall shows favourable results in the battle to rid lakes and rivers of New Zealand’s most invasive aquatic weeds, including hydrilla, hornwort and lagarosiphon (an oxygen weed).

It looks like a slimy worm –- but it lives in the sea! The common sea cucumber is a sluggish creature, brown and blotchy, designed to blend in with its habitat: rocky reefs and sandy bottoms.

It is sub tidal and can be found at depths up to 100 metres, all around the coast of New Zealand.

"They look like a worm crossed with a sausage, and the adults can grow to 20 cm and live for five years," says NIWA aquaculture scientist Jeanie Stenton-Dozey.