People will soon be able to see Fiordland's black corals without going diving.
A virtual reality experience is being created so the public can experience it for themselves.
The project aims to raise awareness of the impact of climate change on one of Aotearoa's most unique natural features.
Victoria University PhD Student Matteo Collina is on a mission to capture Fiordland's special black corals, creating the first ever 3D representations of the coral for a virtual reality experience.
"The project is about connecting science and art in museums" to better highlight the issues the region is facing, like climate change, he said.
"Because they can have a feeling of what is underwater and how to protect it," said Collina.
About 10 million of the ancient organisms cover Fiordland's reefs removing carbon from the ocean and providing an important fish habitat, some are hundreds of years old and metres wide.
They're in one of the most isolated corners of New Zealand, so many Kiwis will never see them. Until now, that is.
"If we can get to a stage where people can put on some virtual headsets and look around and see these amazing things under the water... it's really important for us," said Department of Conservation senior Fiordland ranger Richard Kinsey.
To achieve that, Collina is using an underwater camera with a function that shoots images continuously and uses strobes to illuminate the coral.
"I use a technique called photogrammetry, so I shoot thousands of pictures around the objects... then I use software that can connect the images and create a 3D model from the images," he said.
To calculate the coral's size, he uses a black-and-white square with codes that correlate back to his software so he can accurately measure it.
Overseeing his project is Professor James Bell, a marine biologist at Victoria University.
"Giving people the opportunity to be kind of immersed in a virtual reality experience really enables them to connect with those environments. Rather than just seeing 2D pictures or video on the screen you can really imagine yourself being there," Prof Bell said.
Those methods will have have other scientific benefits too, such as measuring growth rates.
"So we go back to the same coral, we create a 3D model of it, then we go back a little time later and create the same model to see how the corals grow," said Prof Bell.
