More than 5,000 animal species previously unknown to science live in a pristine part of the deep sea.
In a new study, scientists amassed and analyzed more than 100,000 published records of animals found in the zone, with some records dating back to the 1870s. About 90 percent of species from these records were previously undescribed: There were only about 440 named species compared with roughly 5,100 without scientific names. Worms and arthropods make up the bulk of the undescribed creatures, but other animals found there include sponges, sea cucumbers and corals, the researchers report May 25 in Current Biology.
“The diversity down there does surprise me,” says study coauthor Muriel Rabone, a data analyst and biologist at the Natural History Museum in London. “It’s just astonishing.”
Due to its rich content of minerals like cobalt and nickel, the Clarion-Clipperton Zone is sought after by mining companies. About a sixth of it, roughly a million square kilometers, has already been promised to companies for exploration.
2023-05-25 10:00:00
Article from www.sciencenews.org
