ANIMAL NEWS
November 12, 2008
Endless Ocean Wonders
A marine survey reveals thousands of discoveries from beneath the surface of the sea
 |  CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE This city of brittle stars was discovered off the coast of New Zealand. |
A city of stars and a carpet of crustaceans are just two of thousands of findings revealed in a new study of deep sea discoveries that was released on November 9. The Census of Marine Life is part of a worldwide project that began in 2000. The goal is to complete the big-picture study of life under the sea in 2010.
More than 2,000 researchers from 82 countries are meeting this week at the World Conference on Marine Biodiversity in Valencia, Spain, to work on the census. Scientists expect the census to include important information about 230,000 known marine species and to identify more than 5,500 possibly new species.
 CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE This male sea spider may belong to a newly discovered species. | |
Scientists are excited about a city of brittle stars that was discovered off the coast of New Zealand. Brittle stars, sea animals with five arms, are related to sea stars and sea cucumbers. Thousands of brittle stars have colonized the peak of an underwater mountain nestled in a swift current. The current carries a steady supply of food, so the brittle stars that live there need only raise their arms to eat.
Researchers are also thrilled by the discovery of a carpet of small crustaceans on the sea floor at the head of the Mississippi Canyon in the Gulf of Mexico. As many as 12,000 small crustaceans are packed into each square yard of the dense, deep-sea carpet.
|  CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE This comb jelly fish swims in the Arctic waters off the Canada basin. |
A comb jellyfish was found at a remarkable depth of 23,455 feet in the Ryukyu Trench, near Japan. Before the big discovery, scientists did not believe that there was enough food to sustain life at such a low level.
These are just a few of the findings from the most recent report, and the efforts are ongoing. "We are still making discoveries," says census scientist Ron D'Or.
