Seventeen infaunal benthic communities are recognised from sampling on the New Zealand continental shelf and upper continental slope. These are characterised in terms of geographic distribution, substrate and bathymetric range, and commoner infaunal bivalves and echinoderms.

1. Benthic invertebrate bycatch was collected during trawling for orange roughy (Hoplostethus atlanticus) at water depths of 662–1524 m on the northern and eastern Chatham Rise, New Zealand, in July 1994. Seventy‐three trawl tows were examined, 49 from ‘flat’ areas and 24 from two groups of ‘hills’ (small seamounts). Benthos was recorded from 82% of all tows.  2. Some 96 benthic species were recorded including Ophiuroidea (12 spp.), Natantia (11 spp.), Asteroidea (11 spp.), Gorgonacea (11 spp.), Holothuroidea (7 spp.), and Porifera (6 spp.).  3. Cluster analysis showed the bycatch from flats and hills to differ significantly. Dominant taxa from flats were Holothuroidea, Asteroidea and Natantia; whereas taxa most commonly recorded from hills were Gorgonacea and Scleractinia. Bycatch from the two geographically separate groups of hills also differed significantly.  4. The largest bycatch volumes comprised corals from hills: Scleractinia (Goniocorella dumosa), Stylasteridae (Errina chathamensis) and Antipatharia (?Bathyplates platycaulus). Such large sessile epifauna may significantly increase the complexity of benthic habitat and trawling damage may thereby depress local biodiversity. Coral patches may require >100 yr to recover.  5. Other environmental effects of deep‐water trawling are briefly reviewed.  6. There is an urgent need to assess more fully the impact of trawling on seamount biotas and, in consequence, possible conservation measures. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Macrobenthic samples .were collected along 3 north-south transects at 244-1394 m depth across the Chatham Rise, eastern New Zealand, to examine the distribution of polychaete assemblages in the region of the Subtropical Convergence (STC). Two main assemblages were identified: at 244-663 m depth occurring mainly on the crest of the Rise, and at 802-1394 m on the slopes of the Rise. Community composition differed,. however, between the northern and southern slopes of the Rise. The southern slope supported higher faunal densities and a greater proportion of surface deposit feeders. This latitudinal difference may reflect variability in organic flux across the STC.

Samples of epibenthic macrofauna were collected using a small sledge trawl from 40 stations on the Chatham Rise (42°34´-44°47'S; 175°34'E-179°03'W) at water depths of 237-2039 m. 218 taxa were collected, predominantly echinoderms, crustaceans, and molluscs. Multivariate analysis based on 85 species indicated three epibenthic communities, the shallowest characterised mainly by crustaceans and two deeper water communities mainly characterised by echinoderms: (1) a community on predominantly sandy sediments on the crest and shallower flanks of the Rise at 237-602 m that included as characteristic species Munida gracilis, Phylladiorhynchus pusillus, Campylonotus rathbunae, Pontophilus acutirostris, and Acutiserolis bromleyana (Crustacea), Amphiura lanceolata (Ophiuroidea), Cuspidaria fairchildi, and Euciroa galatheae (Bivalvia); (2) a community associated with muddy sediments at 462-1693 m that included Ypsilothuria bitentaculata and Pentadactyla longidentis (Holothuroidea), Brissopsis oldhami (Echinoidea), and Amphiophiura ornata (Ophiuroidea); and (3) a community on muddy sediments at 799-2039 m that included Ophiomusium lymani (Ophiuroidea), Porcellanaster ceruleus (Asteroidea), Gracilechinus multidentatus (Echinoidea), and M97004