“Researchers in California have discovered a new species of sea slug off the Pacific coast in an area of deep sea known as the midnight zone,” reports The Guardian:
A team with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute first came across the creature, which they dubbed the ‘mystery mollusc’ in 2000 at 8,576ft (2,613 meters)…
Sea slugs, also called nudibranchs, generally live on the sea floor, but the mystery mollusc is the first documented occupying the deep water column, a large area about 3,300-13,100ft under the surface. The ocean’s deep interior is an unexplored frontier, Robison and Steven Haddock, a senior scientist at the research institute, noted in the publication.
The creature has a transparent, gelatinous body with a large hood, a flat tail ‘fringed with … finger-like projections’, a foot similar to a snail, and brilliant bioluminescence, according to a statement from the research institute.
Since first observing the sea slug in February 2000 using the institute’s remotely operated vehicle, the team has encountered more than 100 of the creatures. They collected a specimen that allowed them to more closely examine the animal’s anatomy and genetics, confirming it is a new species of sea slug.
Many more new species will likely be discovered in the future in the deep sea below 2,000 meters. Dr. Haddock says that “for there to be a relatively large, unique, and glowing animal that is in a previously unknown family really underscores the importance of using new technology to catalog this vast environment.”
Scientists also discovered over a hundred new species in the sea east of New Zealand. “They deployed what is known as the Brenke sled, a sampling device that has two nets, one close to the seabed, and the other a meter above it. As it drags along the floor, it churns up animals living close to the sea floor. To find larger animals, the researchers used other methods, such as baited nets. Trawling the depths at 4,800 meters…researchers collected 1,791 samples….Worldwide, about 240,000 marine species have been discovered and named to date…2,200 species are discovered each year on average.”
Species long thought to have been lost are being rediscovered in other countries. “In southern China, scientists have discovered ancient forests with animals and plants they thought were extinct in several sinkholes. The sinkholes have formed over tens of thousands of years and have only recently become visible when the land collapsed. They’re now being explored with the help of local mountaineers,” reports the BBC.
“China has more giant sinkholes than anywhere else on the planet and scientists are making new discoveries in their ancient forests. We went dangling from the limestone cliffs to take a look,” notes a BBC reporter. “For scientists these cavernous pits are a journey back in time, to a place where they can study animals and plants they had thought extinct. They’ve also found species they’d never seen, including types of wild orchid, ghostly white cave fish and various spiders and snails.”
Other species thought to be extinct have recently been found. A type of gecko believed to be extinct was discovered thriving on the Galápagos Islands.
