Mature red rock lobster, Jasus edwardsii were air freighted from the North Island, New Zealand to Japan in 1985. During most years since, egg extrusion has taken place during November and December and egg hatching from February to April. In the main experiment, phyllosomas were cultured in 100-litre containers. Each container had an upwelling system, connected either to a Nannochloropsis culture tank (Experiment 1) or to a coral sand filter tank (Experiment 2). Artemia nauplii and mussel gonad were the main foods provided. The numbers of 1st, 5th, and 15th instars were 12 000, 1500, and 137 respectively in Experiment 1, and 1500, 99, and 67 in Experiment 2. The intervals between Instars 1-4 and 4-14 were 43 and 175 days respectively for Experiment 1, and 43 and 169 days for Experiment 2. In Experiment 1, nine phyllosomas (13-15th instar) died during metamorphosis to the puerulus and a single 17th instar metamorphosed 303 days after hatching, 19 days later moulting into the juvenile. In Experiment 2, six 17th instar larvae metamorphosed 293 days and more after hatching, with all dying over the following 3 days. In an ancillary experiment, 30 phyllosomas were cultured in each of two 30-litre tanks containing microalgae: survival was higher, 20% and 43% reaching Instars 14/15 and six metamorphosing after 212-274 days. In all experiments, the developmental sequence was generally consistent with that for larvae from the field. Gill buds appeared at the 13th instar and gills were complete at the 17th instar. Improved culture methods are required to reduce late-stage mortalities.

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Alvinocaris niwa n. sp. is described from hydrothermal vents at the Brothers Caldera and Rumble V Seamount on the southern Kermadec Ridge, midway between the Kermadec Islands and Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. Four hundred specimens of Alvinocaris longirostris Kikuchi & Ohta, 1995, described from Japan, are recorded at the Brothers. The presence of a possible third Alvinocaris at Rumble V and one or two species of Chorocaris at Brothers are also reported. Eighty-eight specimens of A. niwa and 41 of A. longirostris were measured and examined to assess morphological variation. Morphological characters used to distinguish alvinocaridids are shown to be highly variable. Pairwise correlations with carapace length indicate that numbers of teeth, spines and setae are generally not related to shrimp size. Descriptions based on small numbers of specimens are thus questionable. The new species is characterised by: short rostrum; paired sternal spines on abdominal somites I III; long stylocerite and robust distolateral spine on the antennular proximal segment, with a subterminal spine; two ventral spines on antennal basal segment; row of spines on distal segment of maxilliped III; and two rows of spines on flexor surface of P3 P5 dactyls. It is the shallowest alvinocaridid yet discovered and also inhabits the greatest depth range, at over 700 m.

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