The National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research is sending another mission to the Kermadec Trench to investigate deep water life forms.
Research vessel Koharoa will sail on Friday in partnership with the national museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and the University of Aberdeen.
NIWA principal scientist Malcolm Clark said the team hopes to discover more about an enormous crustacean known as a supergiant amphipod.
Any new species found will be sent to Te Papa where they will be preserved, researched and stored.
Exploration will go as deep as 8km below the surface of the ocean.
