Published: | Updated:
Meat-eating 'death balls' with velcro-like hooks, translucent 'ghost sharks' with glowing eyes and a strange worm that shelters deep inside a glass sponge are among the more than 1,000 marine species discovered over the last year.
Other new finds include a sea anemone that burrows deep into the ocean floor and bright orange-banded shrimp living in a sea cave off the coast of France.
The newest species found by scientists include a type of chimaera or 'ghost shark' found more than 800m below the waves in the Australian Coral Sea marine park.
Chimaera are so named because its members often look like they have been sewn together from the parts of other fish - like the mythical Greek beast that was part lion, part goat, and part dragon.
Meanwhile, researchers also came across a 'death ball' sponge deep within the waters of the South Sandwich Islands, an uninhabited, remote chain of 11 volcanic islands in the sub-Antarctic South Atlantic.
Discovered at a depth of 3,601m, the odd-looking carnivorous creature uses velcro-like hooks to catch tiny crustaceans, which are then slowly digested
Boo-tiful: A translucent 'ghost shark' is among the more than 1,000 new species discovered by scientists over the last year
Sticky situation: Discovered at a depth of 3,601m, the 'death ball sponge' uses Velcro-like hooks to catch tiny crustaceans, which are then slowly digested
Bright orange-banded shrimp were found living in a sea cave off the coast of France
Among the more unusual finds was a 'glass castle worm' which exists in a symbiotic relationship with a glass sponge.
Found 791m below the surface, the worm nestles itself within the translucent skeleton of the sponge.
Researchers backed by the Nippon Foundation, Japan's largest philanthropic organisation, and Oxford-based charity Nekton, made the discoveries as part of the Ocean Census, an international effort to identify new marine life.
Scientists believe there could be up to two million species living within the planet's oceans, which cover 70 per cent of Earth.
But to date only 240,000 species have been recognised.
Among the more unusual finds was a 'glass castle worm' which exists in a symbiotic relationship with a glass sponge
This ribbon worm was among the new species uncovered by the Ocean Census researchers
The burrowing sea anenome hides itself deep into the surface
The 'sea pen' are fleshy colonial organisms anchored to the seabed
A diver from the Shinkai 6500 submersible which helped make the new discoveries
Programme director Oliver Steeds said the new species now coming to light - including the 1,121 discovered in the last year - reveal so much still remains unknown about the Earth.
'We spend billions searching for life on Mars or going to the dark side of the moon,' he said.
'Discovering the majority of life on our own planet, in our own ocean, costs a fraction of that. The question is not whether we can afford to do this. It is whether we can afford not to.'
此内容由惯性聚合(RSS阅读器)自动聚合整理，仅供阅读参考。 原文来自 — 版权归原作者所有。