A Decade Long Marine Census Comes To An End

Yeti Crab - Census of Marine Life

The Census of Marine Life which started in 2000 has finally been completed. It is estimated that during the census 20,000 new species have been discovered, bringing the number of known species to nearly 250,000. The decade long project cost £413m and aimed to find out what lived, lives and will live in the oceans. It involved more than 540 expeditions with over 2,700 researchers and used many new types of technology. Fish were tagged and seals were fitted with monitors to record when they dived. Acoustic systems were used to measure fish populations.

Dr Ian Poiner, the chairman of the project’s scientific steering committee, told the BBC “All surface life depends on life inside and beneath the oceans”. This is literally true because we know that life evolved from the oceans and the very first life forms were aquatic organisms. Back then the atmosphere did not have everything they needed to survive but the water did. It was a while before the air contained the nutrients that were needed but eventually life began to evolve on earth. It is thought that there could still be many undiscovered species in the oceans and there could be at least a million of them in total.

Many wonderful species have been discovered during this census, including a Jurassic Shrimp that has thought to have been extinct for at least 50 million years and a crab which has been named the Yeti Crab (see the picture at the top of this post). However, it wasn’t just large organisms that Dr Poiner’s project looked for. The census included trying to tell tiny microbes apart using genetic sequencing. If you thought that a million organisms was a lot then you will be surprised at how many different types of microbes are thought to be in the water – one billion. Hopefully the Census of Marine Life will serve as a base for us to build on to try and preserve marine life.

Source - MSN News

New Species According to MSN News

This morning I noticed an article on MSN News (news.uk.msn.com) about several new species that have been discovered. Most of the species were discovered in deep sea expeditions off Canada's Atlantic Coast and the Sangihe Talaud Region off Indonesia. I'm going to tell you about the species from the information that MSN gives but I will do some more research on these species at a later date as they intrigue me! If you click on the bold names of the species it will take you to the MSN page with them on. These photos are not mine, they are from the MSN website.

1) A Deep-Sea Chimaera

This image was provided to MSN by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Chimaeras share an evolutionary history with sharks and only branched into separate species 400 million years ago. They have mechanoreceptors that detect pressure of the water around them and they use these to navigate in the ocean. These can be seen in the photo, they are the lines on the organism. Ampullae de lorenzini near the mouth can detect electrical fields generated by other organisms. These will also help in navigation and maybe in avoiding predators and detecting prey.

2) Purple Octopus

This Purple Octopus has not been identified according to MSN. It was one of 11 potentially new species that were found in the deep sea expedition off Canada's coast in July of this year. 

3) Strawberry Crab (New Pedal Crab)

This odd looking crab was discovered by a Taiwanese professor named Professor He Pinghe from the National Taiwan Ocean University. He named it the New Pedal Crab (Xin Hua Ban Xie) but the nickname "Strawberry Crab" stuck after people realised it looked just like a strawberry.

4) Miniature Frog (Microhyla nepenthicola)

A new species of miniature frog (Microhyla nepenthicola) was discovered in August of this year and is about the size of a pea. It lives inside and around Pitcher Plants in forests on the island of Borneo. It is part of the Microhylid family which consists of miniature frogs that are under 15mm in size.

5) Sea Star

 This Sea Star is thought to be a new species and was found off the coast of Newfoundland in Canada during a 20-day research trip off Canada's Atlantic coast.

6) Sea Sponge

This odd looking creature was photographed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration near Indonesia. It is a flower like sponge which is thought to be carnivorous.

7) Unidentified Octopus

This species of Octopus was also found in the expedition off the coast of Newfoundland in Canada and has yet to be identified. 

8) Sea Lily

This photograph of a Sea Lily was taken by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The Lily was found 516 metres below the ocean surface in a region off Indonesia

9) Octopus

This photo of an unidentified Octopus was taken by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This Octopus was also found off the coast of Indonesia.