BEAUTIFUL NEW SPECIES DISCOVERED IN DEEP OCEAN

NEW OCEAN ZONE - NEW SPECIES

Our planet’s oceans have served up surprisingly good news. At a time when they are faced with growing threats that have dire consequences for us all, scientists have recently discovered a new ocean zone, with more than 100 new species.

This new kind of ocean ecosystem has been named the “Rariphotic Zone,” in reference to “rare light.” It is teeming with fish, crustaceans, sponges, algae, coral, and other organisms never before seen as well as many that scientists did not expect to find at this depth of the ocean, as seen in this video.

The Rariphotic Zone, was first identified in the waters off the Caribbean island of Curaçao by Dr. Carole Baldwin, head of the Smithsonian Deep Reef Observation Project (DROP). Research results were recently published in the journal Nature Research.

Soon after, researchers at Nekton Oxford Deep Ocean Research Institute confirmed the existence of this unique zone with its unique lifeforms in the seawater column at additional ocean locations off the coast of Bermuda.

The deep ocean – beneath 200m (656 ft) – is our planet’s largest and most vital ecosystem. With over 95% of the deep ocean yet to be explored, we don’t understand how it functions or how healthy it is. We have better maps of Mars than we do of our own seabed.

Millions of species are yet to be discovered. They hold the potential to yield new cures to diseases, new technologies, and new knowledge that can help us to improve and sustain life on earth in countless ways.

Scientists are especially interested in studying deep-reef ecosystems because of declining health of shallow reefs.

The Rariphotic Zone begins at 226 feet (130 meters) and descends to 984 feet (300 meters) below the ocean surface. It is the fourth biological zone of the top 9,842 feet (3,000 meters) of the ocean.

Researchers logged hundreds of hours underwater either scuba diving or piloting remote operated vehicles and submersibles that reached depths of 6,500 feet (2,000m). They observed over 4,500 fishes, representing 71 species, during approximately 80 submersible dives to as deep as 309 meters.

Scientists from more than a dozen marine research institutes teamed up to analyse 40,000 specimens and samples, as well as 15,000 litres of water samples, since September 2016.

About one in every five fish scientists are finding in the Rariphotic Zone is a new species. They are also finding that many shallow reef organisms are migrating to deep reefs in search of food and refuge. Most of the fishes in the Rariphotic Zone not only look similar to shallow reef fishes, but are related to them as opposed to true deep-ocean fishes, which belong to different branches of the evolutionary tree.

The subsea algal forest on the summit of the Plantagenet Seamount, an underwater mountain located just 15 miles off Bermuda's coast, was found to contain coral, sea fans, green moray eels, sea urchin and yellow hermit crab feasting on zooplankton and algae that were floating down from the summit.

So far, newly discovered species range from small 'cryptofauna' to widespread coverage of a new black wire coral species standing up to 6.6 feet (two metres) high.

Dozens of new species of algae, including the deepest ever record to have had its DNA sequenced, have been discovered. They are providing evidence of a new bio-geographical link between Bermuda and the Indo-Pacific.

Starting later this year, Nekton scientists will begin a four-year study of the Indian Ocean, consisting of six cruises in six different bioregions of the ocean. Researchers will move west (Mozambique Channel and Seychelles) to central (Mauritius and Maldives) to east (Andaman and Sumatra). Like the work in Bermuda, Nekton researchers hope their final report on the ocean, expected to be issued near the end of 2021, will help create policy for preserving the Indian Ocean and its ecosystems.

Learn more about the Nekton mission and achievements to date.  

The first peer-reviewed papers have been published, a synthesis of results and total of 20 scientific papers are expected to be published from the Mission by the end of 2018.

Read more about Ocean Beauties in It’s Time To Visit & Save The Great Great Barrier Reef, Beaches Make Our Minds More Beautiful, Compelling Oceanscapes: Kristin Hettermann, and The Ocean Cleanup Is Happening Now!

And check out more beautiful things happening now in BN Mind/Body, Soul/Impact, Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Arts/Design, and Place/Time, Daily Fix posts.

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IMAGE CREDITS:

1. Image: Wire corals on the sea floor in Bermuda. Courtesy of Nekton Deep Ocean Exploration and XL Catlin Deep Ocean Survey.
2. Image: Submersible Lights on the Ocean Bed. Courtesy of Nekton Deep Ocean Exploration and XL Catlin Deep Ocean Survey.
3. Image: by Carole Baldwin & D. Ross Robertson.  Haptoclinus blenny (Teleostei, Labrisomidae) newly discovered fish species. Curaçao. Courtesy of Smithsonian Deep Reef Observation Project (DROP).
4. Image: Nekton Triton Submersible. Courtesy of Nekton Deep Ocean Exploration.
5. Image: by Barry Brown, Substation Curacao. New species, Golden-yellow- spotted grouper (Liopropoma olneyi). Courtesy of Smithsonian Deep Reef Observation Project (DROP).
6. Image: by D. Ross Robertson. “Baldwinella vivanos,” a new fish species discovered in the Rariphotic Zone, named for Dr. Carole Baldwin. Courtesy of Smithsonian Deep Reef Observation Project (DROP).
7. Image: Aerial view of the Bermuda platform. Courtesy of Nekton Deep Ocean Exploration.
8. Image: Wire corals emerge from the sea floor in Bermuda. Courtesy of Nekton Deep Ocean Exploration.
9. Image: Nekton Triton submersible floating before the Baseline Explorer submersible deployment ship. Courtesy of Nekton Deep Ocean Exploration.
10. Image: Ocean health check. Courtesy of Nekton Deep Ocean Exploration and Triton Subs.
11. Image: Nekton Mission. Courtesy of Nekton Deep Ocean Exploration.

Image: New coral species (Stichopathes) found off coast of Bermuda. Courtesy of Nekton Deep Ocean Exploration.