Treasures of the sea

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• Home
• Executive Summary
• 1.0 Introduction
• 2.0 Methods
• 3.1 The Oceanography of the New Zealand Marine Ecoregion
• 3.2 Cetaceans, seals, and seabirds
• 3.3 Fishes
• 3.4 Benthic invertebrates, algae, and plants
  • 1. Kermadec Ridge
  • 2. Trench (hadal) environments
  • 3. South Norfolk Ridge and the Three Kings Rise
  • 4. The Three Kings Islands and shelf, Spirits Bay, and Pandora Bank
  • 5. Cavalli seamounts
  • 6. West coast harbours of the North Island
  • 7. Rocky coast of the northeast North Island
  • 8. Active submarine volcanoes and hydrothermal vents
  • 9. Hauraki Gulf/Bay of Plenty estuaries
  • 10. Ranfurly Bank
  • 11. Convergent margin cold seeps
  • 12. Deep sea wood habitats
  • 13. Rocky coast seagrass habitats
  • 14. Marlborough Sounds
  • 15. Cook Strait
  • 16. Bryozoan coral beds
  • 17. Farewell Spit region
  • 18. Kaikoura shallow water
  • 19a. Chatham Rise
  • 19b. Chatham Islands
  • 20. Fiordland
  • 21. Foveaux Strait/Stewart Island/Snares plateau shelf
  • 22. Subantarctic plateaus and islands
  • 23. Southeastern continental margin/Deep Western Boundary Current
  • 24. Macquarie Ridge
  • Biogenic carbonate/bryozoan habitats
  • Topographic generated soft sediment refugia
  • Non-geniculate coralline algae
  • Kelp forests
  • Mangroves
  • Seagrasses
  • Photic zone rock wall suspension feeding assemblages
  • Deep rock wall/high gradient hard bottom habitats
    deeper than 200m
  • Brachiopod communities
  • References and further reading
• 3.5 Information gaps
• 3.6 Future steps for the future of Biodiversity
• 4.0 Discussion
• 5.0 References
• Appendix 1
• Appendix 2
• Appendix 3
• Appendix 4

4. The Three Kings Islands and shelf, Spirits Bay, and
Pandora Bank

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Map ID Number: 4

Location: Immediately off the northwestern tip of New Zealand’s North Island

Approximate area: 26,156km²

• Description of area
• Biological attributes
• Criteria applied
• Status and management
• State of information
• References and further reading

Description of area:

The Three Kings Islands and the surrounding area provide a diversity of marine habitats. The islands have walls and shallow intertidal caves while the shelf has bryomol calcareous gravel.

Biological attributes:

This area is considered to be the New Zealand marine biodiversity hot spot. High diversity of suspension feeding taxa, such as molluscs and ascidians, has been observed here. Diversity is extraordinarily high for bryozoa and sponges. Endemism is high for bryozoans, sponges, ascidians, and other suspension feeders. Macroalgal diversity and endemism is high around the Three Kings Islands. Even within the area there are pockets of endemnicity. For example, the sponges found around the Three Kings Islands are distinct from those found in Spirits Bay.

 

Criteria applied:

Species diversity; species richness; endemism; relict/genetic lineages (i.e. “living fossils”); special phylogenetic grouping; extremities of range and adaptation to environment; links to global patterns; representation; habitat complexity/diversity.

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Status and management:

Previously fi shed areas of Spirits Bay are presently under protections from scallop dredging (M. Cryer, NIWA Auckland, personal communication). No other specifi c management status is known other than EEZ protection.

State of information:

Knowledge of sponge fauna of the area is current, relatively comprehensive, and based upon examination of all recent and most historical NIWA and NMNZ collections. Information about this area increases substantially with each sampling effort.

References and further reading:

Adams and Nelson (1985), Cryer et al. (1999, 2000), Kelly (2000a), Kelly et al. (in press), Nelson and Adams (1990), Nelson (1999a), Nelson et al. (1999), Taylor and Gordon (2003).