Scientists have discovered more than 30 potentially new species living at the bottom of the sea.
Researchers from the UK’s Natural History Museum used a remotely operated vehicle to collect specimens from the Clarion-Clipperton Zone abyssal plains in the central Pacific Ocean. Previously, the creatures of this area had only been studied from photographs.
The study, published in the journal Zookeys, found that the abyss has a wide species diversity of larger organisms. Of the 55 specimens found, 48 are of different species.
Psychropotes verrucicaudatus newly discovered using robotic technology. Photo: Courtesy of the DeepCCZ Expedition/Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and NOAA
Animals found include segmented worms, invertebrates from the same family as centipedes, marine animals from the same family as jellyfish, and various types of coral.
Thirty-six specimens were found at more than 4,800 meters depth, two were collected on a seamount slope at 4,125 meters, and 17 were found at depths between 3,095 and 3,562 meters.
The findings have potentially important implications for deep-sea mining as people become more interested in exploiting minerals from the seabed, as the activity appears to have the potential to disturb many creatures.
Peniagone vitrea in situ. Photo: Courtesy of the DeepCCZ Expedition/Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and NOAA
The study’s lead author, Dr Guadalupe Bribiesca-Contreras from the Natural History Museum, said: “This study is important not only because of the number of potentially new species discovered, but also because these megafauna specimens have previously only been studied from images of the seabed . Without the specimens and the DNA data they hold, we cannot properly identify the animals and understand how many different species there are.”
Dr Adrian Glover, who leads the Natural History Museum’s Deep Sea Research Group, said: “We know that millimetre-sized animals, called macrofauna, are extremely biodiverse in the abyss. However, we’ve never had much information about the larger animals we call megafauna because so few samples have been collected. This study is the first to suggest that diversity may be very high in these groups as well.
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