Underwater creatures: 5,000 new species found in the Pacific Ocean
- Published
5,000 new species have been found in an area of the Pacific Ocean called the Clarion-Clipperton Zone.
These weird and wonderful creatures include worms, corals and sea cucumbers known as "gummy squirrels and bears".
Scientists, like Muriel Rabone, have put together the list of creatures for the first time. There are plans to mine the zone for deep-sea metals which could put the nature of the area at risk.
Of the creatures found in the study, 90% of them were completely new to scientists.
An abyssal gummy squirrel was one of the strange creatures found at the bottom of the ocean.
Scientists sent remote-controlled vehicles down to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean where they found species like this carnivorous sponge. It’s like a box being dragged across the ocean floor!
They then made a huge list of all the creatures that they found, like the abyssal sea cucumber.
It’s the first time a list like this has been made of what lives in this area - like this ping pong sponge. Now they know what does live there they can begin to understand how to approach and protect these creatures.
5,000 new animal species were discovered and this anemone is one of them. But scientists think there's a lot more still to be discovered.