Never-before-seen marine species discovered in Southern Ocean

William Atkins
Friday, 10 October 2008 20:37

Science - Biology

In all, the two exploratory missions mapped, for the first time, 145 canyons and 80 undersea mountains.

The mapping was performed about 100 nautical miles (115 miles, 185 kilometers) south of Tasmania during the period from November 2006 to April 2007.

Dr. Kate Wilson, the director of the CSIRO Wealth from Oceans National Research Flagship, stated, "In Australian waters, for example, more than 40 per cent of the creatures brought to the surface by our scientists on a voyage of discovery have never been seen before.” [Herald Sun: “CSIRO scientists find marine bonanza on Southern Ocean voyage”]

In the Herald Sun article, federal environment Minister Peter Garrett, who made the announcement, said it was an amazing day for Australian science. He added, “The richness of molluscs found in these voyages has been described by marine scientists as astounding and requiring a complete rewrite of textbooks for this type of fauna…. We have no idea how many species there are, and most of the species we get we only catch once.” [Herald Sun]

About 70 per cent of the fish, crustaceans, mollusks, sponges, and corals identified on the two voyages are new to science—never before seen nor recorded by scientists.

Pictures of some of the new marine species are found on the National Geographic website “Nearly 300 New Marine Species Found Near Australia.”

A special National Geographic page of pictures is provided at “Photos: 100s of New Marine Species Found Off Tasmania.”