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https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/26/scientists-find-5000-new-species-in-pacific-warn-of-mining-risk>
"A study has identified more than 5,000 new species living in deep-sea habitats
in the Pacific Ocean in a region known as the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ), a
seabed targeted for mining in the coming years.
The zone extends roughly 6 million sq km (2.3 million sq miles) between Hawaii
and Mexico.
Researchers said on Thursday that they had identified 5,578 species in the
zone, of which 92 percent were new to science.
“There are 438 named, known species from the CCZ,” said the study’s lead
author, Muriel Rabone, deep-sea ecologist at the Natural History Museum London.
“But then there are 5,142 unnamed species with informal names.”
“These are species that haven’t been described yet, meaning we might know the
genus but can’t identify the species. It is actually a lot more than I
thought.”
Most species recorded were arthropods, invertebrates with exoskeletons made of
chitin, such as shrimp, crabs and horseshoe crabs. Others were worms in the
annelid and nematoda groups.
The scientists used taxonomic surveys for the area that began decades ago as
well as data made available by the International Seabed Authority, which has
requested companies interested in mining collect and share environmental
information.
The findings illustrate that “the CCZ represents significant undescribed
biodiversity” and “the novelty of the region at deep taxonomic levels”, said
the study, published in the
Current Biology journal."
Via Frederick Wilson II.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
