The potential discovery of new species on 10 seamounts in the southeastern Pacific Ocean will not only further our understanding of marine biodiversity. For researchers, this shows how the marine protections implemented by the Chilean government are working to enhance biodiversity, and is an encouraging sign for other countries looking to protect their oceans.
“Each seamount had a different type of ecosystem,” said Hannah Nolan, an expedition and community support specialist at Schmidt Ocean Institute, a nonprofit marine research organization that conducted the expedition.
14,000 feet under the sea
The research team deployed an underwater robot that can descend to depths of more than 14,000 feet and carried specimens from the deep sea to land from January 8 to February 11. The southeastern Pacific Ocean, a geologically active region, is dotted with hydrothermal vents that support a variety of life.
Only by analyzing the animals' anatomy and genes in land-based laboratories will scientists be able to determine whether these creatures are truly new species.
Javier Cerranes, a scientist at the Universidad Católica Norte who led the study, said the journey along the seamounts that stretch from the South American coast to Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, was a bonanza for the sponges. “Previously only two species had been properly described in this area, but now we have found about 40 different species,” he said.
In addition to corals, sea urchins, starfish, and crinoids, some of the marine creatures that may be new to science include ghostly white sponges and lobsters with beady eyes and spiny legs. Masu.
The team explored two marine parks where Chile has restricted fishing: Juan Fernández and Nazca des Venturadas. But they also searched outside the country's national waters, some areas of the ocean called the high seas over which no government has jurisdiction.
Ocean advocates want to protect these underwater mountain ranges. The creation of new marine protected areas under a United Nations treaty signed last year protects international waters from overfishing and deep-sea mining. Countries around the world aim to protect 30 percent of Earth's oceans by the end of this decade, in a bid to stop the extinction of Earth's remaining wild plants and animals.
