Essex scientist helps discover 100 new ocean species

A University of Essex scientist helped discover around 100 new and potentially new ocean species on an expedition to New Zealand.

The three-week voyage on NIWA’s research vessel Tangaroa was the first flagship Southern Hemisphere expedition for Ocean Census, a global alliance to accelerate the discovery and protection of life in the ocean founded by The Nippon Foundation and UK ocean exploration foundation Nekton.

The team of scientists from NIWA and Te Papa in New Zealand collaborated with experts from the UK and Australia to collect almost 1800 samples from as deep as 4800 metres underwater along the 800-kilometre-long Bounty Trough.

Dr Jessica Gordon, a Specialist Technician in Essex’s School of Life Sciences, was a key part of the three-week expedition.

Dr Gordon said: “We explored unmapped areas of the seafloor down to 5,000 meters and discovered over 100 new species of deep-sea organisms.

“Overall, the three week long expedition and subsequent taxonomy workshop was an amazing experience, and I look forward to collaborating with Ocean Census in the future.

“I was honoured to join this groundbreaking expedition to the Bounty Trough in New Zealand with Ocean Census in collaboration with Te Papa Tongarewa Museum and NIWA alongside taxonomy experts from around the world.”

Explore the findings in a gallery below

Credit: Ocean Census/NIWA

Ocean Census Science Director Professor Alex Rogers, who co-led the expedition, says he’s been impressed with the sheer biodiversity of life they’ve discovered.

“It looks like we have a great haul of new, undiscovered species. By the time all our specimens are examined, we will be north of 100 new species.  But what’s really surprised me here is the fact this extends to animals like fish – we think we’ve got three new species of fish.”

Voyage co-leader NIWA marine biologist Sadie Mills says the expedition has shown the Bounty Trough is flourishing with life.

“We’ve gone to lots of different habitats and discovered a whole range of new species, from fish to snails, to corals and sea cucumbers – really interesting species that are going to be new to science.

“Ocean Census has enabled us to explore an area of Aotearoa’s deep seafloor that we previously knew little about in terms of the animals that live there.

“This partnership will not only add new species to our recently published New Zealand marine biodiversity inventory but will improve our understanding of the seafloor habitats and living geographic and depth ranges of rare species.”

Credit: Ocean Census/NIWA

A global team of scientists is working to confirm the finds at taxonomic workshops at NIWA and Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

They are sorting and describing the specimens collected, so they can be added to the picture of Aotearoa New Zealand’s marine biodiversity.

New species identified so far include dozens of molluscs, three fish, a shrimp, a cephalopod and a new genera of coral. One find is baffling the experts.

Queensland Museum Network Taxonomist Dr Michela Mitchell says the voyage team initially thought it might be a seastar, a sea-anemone or zoanthid-like creature, but it has so far proven to be none of those.

“We’ve got a lot of experts here having a look who are very excited.

“We now think it could be a new species of octocoral, but also a new genus [wider grouping of species]. Even more excitingly, it could be a whole new group outside of the octocoral.

"If it is, that is a significant find for the deep sea and gives us a much clearer picture of the planet’s unique biodiversity,” she said.

For more information visit the Ocean Census website.