NIWA's research vessel Tangaroa will set sail this week to explore the biodiversity of deep-sea habitats in the outer Bay of Plenty and southern Kermadec Ridge, starting 80 kilometres off Tauranga.

How far and fast can aquatic insects travel upstream? Do the adults have to fly, or can the larvae crawl? A NIWA scientist is using obstacle courses to test the ability of fly larvae for upstream travel - a kind of flyathalon. This work will identify some of the barriers to stream restoration, including movement of insects as they recolonise restored areas.

Boaties, beware this summer of a weird hitch-hiker waving at you in the water, as a peculiar marine amphipod crustacean, Caprella mutica, may be freeloading on your boat hull.

The broadnose sevengill shark, Notorynchus cepedianus, is named descriptively after – wait for it– its broad snout and seven gill slits! Interestingly, most shark species only have five gills. The broadnose sevengill is one of New Zealand's more common inshore sharks.

They fly like birds under water and create strange pits in the sand. Eagle rays can be seen around New Zealand's coast in the summer months, when they come in to breed. Like their larger cousins, the longtail and shorttail stingrays, they have a sting in their tail.

NIWA's Dr Michelle Kelly and a visiting scientist, Professor Jean Vacelet from Centre d'Oceanologie de Marseille, have recently discovered and described three "previously unknown species" of carnivorous sponges from the family Cladorhizidae.

Scientists have been reviewing evidence of changes to New Zealand's climate. They've also been projecting future changes to New Zealand's climate, and the impact on biodiversity and marine habitats.

John Clayton, a principal scientist in the fields of aquatic biodiversity and biosecurity based at NIWA's Hamilton office, has won a 2011 Kudos award for his leading role in the development of LakeSPI  (Lake Submerged Plant Indicators). 

A new web portal offers a previously unseen record of the marine pests that threaten New Zealand's marine environment.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry (MAF) and the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) have together developed "The Marine Biosecurity Porthole" - a web-based portal that provides public access to information on unwanted marine pests and other non-native marine organisms that have been recorded in our waters.