Scientists are embarking on a new marine expedition hoping to discover new species in one of the most remote parts of New Zealand's waters.
The voyage area sits around 550km to the southeast of the lower South Island, focusing on the largely unexplored Bounty Trough, and is a co-operation between Ocean Census, NIWA, and Te Papa.
The team is expecting to find a lot of new species, storing them in a freezer on board the vessel that has the capacity to hold up to 100,000 samples.
A taxonomic workshop will take place following the expedition, with the collection to curated at NIWA and Te Papa Museum.
Expedition co-leader Sadie Mills said that the team wants to understand what species we have now before we lose them to some of these impacts from climate change.
"The average shelf life for a description of a new species is about 11-and-a-half years. So basically, what we're finding now is going to accelerate that process down into just a two-month process and we'll have new species discovered, so it's very, very exciting for us."
It is estimated that around two million species live in our oceans, with just 10% of them discovered.
Professor Alex Rogers said that they are expecting everything from fish, all the way down to tiny worms and crustaceans.
"Really, we've got a legacy of 4 billion years of evolution in the ocean. So, it really is urgent to get out there and document that life which we may well lose."
The RV Tangaroa will set sail tomorrow, with the expedition lasting 21 days.
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