Huge mudslides from November's earthquakes have wiped out all organisms living in the seabed of the Kaikoura Canyon, which used to be a hotbed of life.

A survey a decade ago found the canyon had one of the highest volumes of organisms living in the mud known anywhere in the world.

It was a starkly different story when the canyon was recently re-surveyed from Niwa's research ship Tangaroa after the magnitude 7.8 Kaikoura Earthquake on November 14.

"We surveyed exactly the same area we did in 2006 and, while fish were still found in the area, this time didn't record evidence of a single organism living on or in the seabed over a stretch of nearly six kilometres of seabed," Niwa marine ecologist Dr Dave Bowden said on Monday.