Wellington’s Marine Environments
The coastal marine ecosystems around Wellington are diverse and include offshore islands, shorelines exposed to the strong currents of the Cook Strait, the highly dynamic South Coast and harbour environments. Here we want to highlight specific species & habitats and showcase sites less often dived. We hope to raise awareness for Wellington’s marine environments and encourage and inspire better management, conservation and restoration projects and encourage more marine field work and investments in marine biodiversity. If you are interested in more details about the dive sites and observations get in touch!
Sponge Habitats
Strong currents running through the Cook Strait sustain this delicate sponge ecosystem along the west coast of Wellington. We were amazed by the diversity of life on the reef – so were sponge scientists!
Francesca Strano and Valerio Micaroni describe this amazing discovery in the Forest and Bird magazine. Read more in the spotlight below. Watch the short video edit here of our dive at the Ohau Sponge garden from Aug 2021.
The sponge gardens of Pukerua Bay are known to local divers. Here is a long video edit from our dive at Pukerua Bay in 2021.
In 2022 we were diving the sponge zone at Tokomāpuna (Aeroplane) Island at Kapiti Island. Watch the extended video here and check out some photos in the spotlight below.
We came across some pretty big sponges on our scooter dive in Wellington Harbour in 2017 – watch the extended video here.
Spotlight Ohau Point Sponges
Read all about the discovery of the sponge gardens at Ohau Point in the Forest & Bird Spring 2022 magazine. Marine biologists and sponge experts Valerio Micaroni and Francesca Strano will introduce you to the temperate mesophotic ecosystems of New Zealand. Mesophotic sponges, corals, and bryozoans can create complex three-dimensional structures that increase biodiversity and support marine productivity. Like terrestrial forests, these ‘marine animal forests’ provide habitat for a wide range of other organisms, serving as safe shelters, nurseries, breeding grounds, and feeding grounds. You can see Valerio’s images below.
Spotlight Tokomāpuna (Aeroplane) Island, Kapiti
Different nudibranchs, an egg case (potentially carpet shark), plenty of colourful and complex sponges and lots of juvenile blue cod in the sponge zone (mesophotic zone) at Kapiti!
Keep Exploring...
and read more about Wellington’s magical seaweed forests and kina barren or explore Taputeranga Marine Reserve.