The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest ocean basin on the planet. Scientists hardly know how many different organisms call these deep waters home. Many of these areas are remote and difficult to explore, but that doesn’t stop efforts to understand what really lies beneath the sea. In February, a team of researchers exploring the Bounty Trough off the coast of New Zealand discovered approximately 100 new and potentially new marine species.
Team members from non-profit organization Ocean Census, New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) and Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa collected nearly 1,800 samples during the three-week expedition. Some of the specimens were found at depths of more than 15,000 feet.
“It looks like we have a large amount of new, undiscovered species,” Ocean Census science director and expedition co-leader Alex Rogers said in a statement. “By the time all our specimens are examined, we will be north of 100 new species.” But what really surprised me here is the fact that this applies to animals like fish – we think we have three new species of fish.
The team also discovered dozens of new molluscs, a shrimp and a cephalopod, which is a type of predatory mollusk. According to the Census of Oceans, we currently know of 240,000 marine species and an average of 2,200 species are discovered annually.
[Related: See the strange new species discovered near Chile—with the help of a deep-diving sea robot.]
One discovery is particularly puzzling to experts working to identify the new species. The team initially believed it was a new sea anemone or starfish, but taxonomists do not believe it is either species.
“We now think this may be a new species of octocoral, but also a new genus [wider grouping of species]Queensland Museum Network taxonomist Michaela Mitchell said in a statement. “Even more exciting is that it could be a whole new group outside of the octocoral. If so, this is a significant find for the deep sea and gives us a much clearer picture of the planet’s unique biodiversity.
[Related: Four new octopus species discovered in the deep-sea vents off Costa Rica.]
Expeditions to underexplored ocean regions such as the Bounty Trough are critical to discovering new species. The Bounty Trough is a basin about 500 miles long east of the South Island of New Zealand. Geologists have previously explored this very deep ocean basin, but this is a first for biologists.
“We went to many different habitats and found a whole range of new species, from fish to snails to corals and sea cucumbers – really interesting species that will be new to science,” NIWA marine biologist Sadie Mills said in a statement.
At the start of the expedition in February 2024, the team used the Imagine system and video cameras to map the area. This was in an effort to ensure that their equipment and cameras could operate safely and not harm vulnerable animal communities. To collect specimens, they used a sampling device called a Brenke sled. He uses two nets, one near the sea floor and the other about three feet above the other net. It drags along the floor, stirring up the animals that live near the sea floor. Bait nets were used to locate some of the larger animals in the trough.
The specimens will be housed at the NIWA Invertebrate Collection (NIC) and the National Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in their mollusc and fish collections. The findings will also be included in future editions of the New Zealand NIWA Marine Biodiversity Memoir.
