The Australasian gannet is a large seabird of the gannet family Sulidae. Their breeding habitat is on islands and the coast of New Zealand, Victoria and Tasmania. These birds are plunge divers and spectacular fishers, plunging into the ocean at high speed. They mainly eat squid and forage fish which school near the surface. Muriwai is one of the mainland colonies for Australasian gannets. There are often more than one thousand gannets at Muriwai Beach, New Zealand.