Talorchestia quoyana is the most abundant sand hopper (Amphipoda: Talitridae) on New Zealand's beaches. These supralittoral detritivores are host to a parasitic mermithid nematode, Thaumamermis zealandica. In other systems, mermithids have been found to manipulate host behaviour to facilitate the continuation of their lifecycle. The aim of the present study was to determine if the burrowing behaviour of T. quoyana showed evide...

A total of 566 koi carp ( Cyprinus carpio ) from the lower Waikato region were aged from scales and opercular bones, and growth was modelled with the von Bertalanffy growth function. There was no difference in growth rate between male and female carp. Growth of koi carp between zero and 3 years of age was lower than that of common carp in Europe and Australia. However, after 5 years of age the growth of koi carp was higher tha...

The distinctive polynoid Paralepidonotus ampulliferus is known to be distributed across the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean, and is present around much of the Australian coast. It is reported here for New Zealand for the first time, and a description is provided. The scale‐worm has been found subtidally in Whangarei Harbour, and is widespread around the soft‐shores of Waitemata Harbour (Auckland) and nearby Hauraki...

Large‐scale control of Australian possums throughout New Zealand uses toxic cereal baits containing 1080 (sodium fluoroacetate). These baits are often aerially applied over rough terrain where ground application is impractical. Many small streams flow in these areas, so 1080 baits can potentially fall into them. The ecological effect of 1080 leaching from baits was assessed on freshwater fish and invertebrate communities in fo...

Contamination of drinking and recreational water bodies by toxic cyanobacteria is a significant water management issue in many countries. Until recently, knowledge of the occurrence of cyanotoxins and species responsible for cyanotoxin production in New Zealand was limited. In this study a total of 266 water and cyanobacterial mat samples collected from 227 different water bodies between 2001 to 2004 were analysed for cyanotox...

We present the first records from New Zealand of three non‐indigenous freshwater Zooplankton species: the Japanese Sinodiaptomus valkanovi, North American Skistodiaptomus pallidus (Copepoda), and Daphnia dentifera (Anomopoda). Owing to their geographic origins, introduction to New Zealand by natural passive dispersal is highly unlikely. Skistodiaptomus pallidus was found in Auckland ponds at two localities, and also among live...

Acoustic recordings of baleen whale calls were analysed for the calendar year 1997 from a pair of fixed hydrophones located 5 km east of Great Barrier Island, New Zealand. The primary goal of the study was to examine blue whale seasonally and song type as part of a larger worldwide study. Calls were recorded from blue whales of two song types, fin whales, humpback whales, Bryde's whales, and of two unknown call types, each pro...

Most seagrass community food‐web studies using stable isotopes have been carried out in subtidal habitats during one sampling event. We used C, N, and S stable isotopes to characterise the diet of the dominant macroinvertebrates found in intertidal Zostera capricorni and sandflat communities of southern New Zealand in late summer and winter. The range of ä 13 C and ä 34 S values for Z. capricorni was wide (>5‰), which highligh...

At the catchment scale, braided rivers are recognised as physically unstable, dynamic landscapes, yet at finer spatial scales they are a mosaic of micro‐habitats including physically unstable braided channels and more stable spring‐sources, spring creeks, and groundwater zones. We investigated benthic invertebrate communities at 103 sites in braided channels, springs and hillslope streams in the Waimakariri River, New Zealand...

We investigated the relationship between climate variation and year‐class strengths for hoki ( Macruronus novaezelandiae ) in New Zealand waters. Our analyses extended those of a previous study, by using an additional 6 years’ data and considering some additional predictands (total year‐class strength and proportion migrating) relating to an alternative stock‐structure hypothesis, and also updated them, by using revised versio...

Lobster stock enhancement efforts have generally met with limited success owing, in part, to low survival of reseeded juveniles caused by poor development of anti‐predator behaviour. We found that recently‐settled juvenile lobsters reared in captivity for 1 year exhibit significantly higher levels of daytime activity than their like‐sized wild counterparts and that this daytime activity could be reduced by 50% by either rearin...

The brown alga Asperococcus ensiformis is recorded from New Zealand waters for the first time. This species is regarded as an introduced species as is the closely related species A. bullosus, which was first reported to occur in New Zealand in 1957. Although A. ensiformis appears to be flattened and ribbon‐like when examined in transverse section it can be seen to be hollow at the margins. It can be distinguished from similar...

Relationships between phytoplankton assemblages and lake trophic state, mixing regime and light climate were investigated in 40 North Island, New Zealand, lakes. We tested the hypothesis that mixing regime is more important than trophic state or light climate in determining the community composition of phytoplankton assemblages which were represented as presence/ absence of cyanobacteria and diatom genera. Mixing regime, chara...

The scallop Argopecten purpuratus is naturally distributed between central Chile and northern Peru. The objective of the present study was to determine some key acute and acclimated responses of A. purpuratus under a range of salinity and food conditions. The differential absorption of different biochemical components of the diet of this scallop was studied over short time periods (1,3, and 7 days), varied salinity (24, 27, an...

To better understand the reproductive biology and to supply crucial data for fisheries management, fecundity of banded wrasse (Notolabrus fucicola) from Otago, southern New Zealand, was investigated over a 12‐month period from January 2004 to January 2005. The spawning season for banded wrasse from Otago was deduced to be from September through to December. The threshold diameter of oocytes undergoing germinal vesicle breakdow...

A recently implemented wave hindcast for the New Zealand region was used in conjunction with wave‐buoy data to evaluate extreme significant wave height at multiple sites around New Zealand, for the first time. Hindcast storm wave heights were under‐predicted compared with wave‐buoy measurements at three inshore sites, and a method for scaling the hindcast data to improve the comparison of predicted extreme wave heights was exp...

Data on abundance, distribution, and size structure of toheroa (Paphies ventricosa) on Bluecliffs Beach, Southland, New Zealand from 42 surveys (1966 to 2005) are presented. Toheroa abundance declined from over 2 million adults in the mid 1960s to c. 80000 by 1990 and since then has remained low but relatively stable. The decline mirrors that of other toheroa populations throughout New Zealand. Recent recruitment was highly va...

Rotenone has been used as a piscicide in Australia for c. 45 years. In freshwater systems this use has focused on the control of non‐indigenous fish species. Little of this use has been registered, reported or documented and Australian fisheries researchers and managers are forced to rely on international literature. This paper reviews all available documentation relating to rotenone use in Australia, before discussing some pl...

Morphological and ultrastructural variability of the diatoms, Discostella stelligera and Discostella elentarii, were examined from lakes Te Anau and Manapouri, located in Fiordland on the South Island of New Zealand. The objectives of this study were to examine and compare the size variability, frustule morphology, and ultrastructural detail of these taxa, which were recently collected from locations of a different origin than...

We estimated juvenile transport distance of a common New Zealand bivalve, Macomona liliana, as a function of size, dispersal mode (bedload or water column), and hydrodynamic forcing by combining laboratory (flume and settling chamber) and field (tidal current) data. Live juvenile transport at 7.0 cm s ‐1 flow speed was significantly less than at 17.2 and 28.0cm s ‐1 and most juveniles (80–95%) were transported as bedload. The...

The taxonomic status of the banded giant stargazer in New Zealand waters is uncertain. Mitochondrial DNA partial sequences of the cytochrome b gene and the control region, along with three meristic characters (numbers of dorsal fin rays, anal fin rays, and vertebrae), were compared among six recognised species of Kathetostoma and specimens of the banded giant morph. New Zealand specimens referred to as banded giant stargazer w...

We examined somatic growth in the New Zealand sea urchin, Pseudechinus huttoni. This species normally inhabits the continental shelf, but in the New Zealand fiords can be found at shallower depths. These shallower populations provided an opportunity to quantify growth of these deep water sea urchins using chemical tag recapture techniques. Growth was modelled in three Doubtful Sound populations and varied spatially, with maxim...

Samples of 16 key fish species targeted by oceanic prawn trawlers and oceanic and estuarine beach seiners in southeastern Australia were measured for up to 10 morphological dimensions that included: total (Wt) and eviscerated weights (EWt); total (TL), fork (FL), natural (NL), standard (SL), dorsal standard (DSL), and anal standard lengths (ASL); and maximum body height (MH), width (MW), and girth (MG). All partial lengths wer...