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A guitar -shaped shark, a fan -like coral and a toxic deep -sea snail with harpoon -like teeth belong to 866 unknown species that were discovered as part of an ambitious effort to document the life of the sea.
The species were found by divers, piloted immersion and remote -controlled vehicles at 10 oceanx peditions and, according to Ocean Census, a global alliance for the protection of lake life, were newly regarded in science that published the first major update this week since its introduction in 2023.
A new kind of guitar shark was found off the coast of Mozambique and Tanzania. – Sergey Bogorodsky/The Nippon Foundation Necton Ocean Census
The 10-year project aims to close the huge gaps that are in the knowledge of the scientists about the ocean depths. Michelle Taylor, coral expert at the University of Essex and main searcher at Ocean Census, said the area of discovery was immense.
“Probably only 10% of the types of sea were discovered,” Taylor told CNN from the research ship of the Schmidt Ocean Institute (TOO) on a 35-day expedition to the southern Sandwich Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean.
“And for the discovered species … with the census of the ocean, it is about such a large selection of taxa. So everything from sharks to pipe fish to gastropods (such as snails) to my own beautiful, small corals. “
Scientists who examine the waters near the Maldives found a new type of octocoral. – Asako Matsumoto/The Nippon Foundation Necton Ocean Census
Scientists found the new species in depths of 3 feet (1 meter) up to 3.990 meters.
Taylor was confident that the expedition in which it participates would add more new types to the list – including suspected a previously unknown coral that was collected three days earlier. “This is an area of the world that is very remote,” she said. “It took eight days on the boat from Südchile to come here. It is very rarely visited. “
Scientists identified the previously unknown species over a period of 16 months. – Necton Ocean Census/The Nippon Foundation
Acceleration of the species discovery
As a coral specialist, Taylor said that one of her favorites among the newly unveiled discoveries was an elegant octocoral that has eight tentacles on which Maldives occurs and is more soft and more flexible than other coral species.
The researchers of the Ocean volume also found the guitar shark, which is a genus, which is known as rhinobatos, off the coast of Mozambique and Tanzania. Its shape is unmistakable and the animal shows properties of both sharks and rays.
“HaiSpezies; Her numbers drop dramatically in every ocean in the world. So it is something special to discover a new way, ”said Taylor.
A poisonous sea snail called Turridrupa Magnifica was one of the remarkable finds. – Richard Smith/The Nippon Foundation Necton Ocean Census
A separate expedition found new species such as a limpet, a sea minor with a conical shell and a naval nest in polar waters at a depth of 3,053 meters in the Norwegian-green sea. Creatures in an environment thrive there: from frequency from almost freezing to areas, just a few meters from hydrothermal ventilation fluids of more than 572 degrees Fahrenheit (300 ° C).
A predatory gastropod called Turridrupa Magnifica was another remarkable find. These deep snails inject toxins into their prey with their unusual teeth. Bioactive connections in the poison of related species have contributed to medical advances, including pain treatments.
New technologies such as the genetic sequencing of environmental DNA and real-time imaging facilitate the identification of new types of sea faster and easier, but scientists still rely on collecting physical specimens to confirm what can be slow, said Taylor.
The scientific description of a new species can take several years, and many of the previously unknown organisms that have been uncovered by the census of the ocean have not yet been officially named, said Taylor. An important goal of Allianz is to speed up the pace of discovery. In the start of the project, the scientists involved in the project stated that over 10 years to identify 100,000 new species.
“If you go through the academic peer review process to have these species names in a paper, such an extraordinary time can take this knowledge almost hindered,” said Taylor.
“Our marine environments face some extraordinary challenges, and when we want to start at the beginning of biological diversity, connectivity, biogeography and potential loss, how this changing climate affect our sea environment, we have to start finding faster paths.”
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