Three sampling methods for estimating abundance and size of blue cod Parapercis colias were compared inside and outside Kapiti Marine Reserve, New Zealand (40° 49′ 31·77 ′′ S; 174° 55′ 02·87 ′′ E). Two baited methods, baited underwater video (BUV) and experimental angling (EA), were more efficient and had lower levels of estimate variation than diver‐based underwater visual census (UVC). The BUV and EA recorded more fish and o...

The phylogenetic relationships among populations of seaperch, Helicolenus spp., in the south‐west Pacific were examined with mtDNA markers. Parts of the cytochrome b gene [459 base pair (bp)] and the control region (448 bp) were sequenced in 58 specimens from the south‐west Pacific and four specimens of Helicolenus lengerichi from Chile. Only one clade was recognized in New Zealand coastal waters, despite a wide range of colou...

Two regions of mtDNA, cytochrome b and cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1, were sequenced in nine species of Bathyraja from the Southern Ocean and New Zealand. Based on sequence divergence, the species that has been referred to as Bathyraja eatonii from the Antarctic continental shelf and slope is a species distinct from B. eatonii from the Kerguelen Plateau (the type locality) and is a new and undescribed species Bathyraja sp. (...