2024-05-05 06:30:27
With a robot that descended 4,500 meters under the sea, an international group of scientists has managed to identify more than 100 species never before seen in the world. underwater mountain range off the coast of Chile. The expedition, led by Schmidt Ocean Institute (SOI), covered 52,777 square kilometers of seabed to achieve the impressive discovery.
“We far exceeded our hopes on this expedition. You always hope to find new species in these remote and little-explored areas, but the amount we found, especially for some groups like sponges, is amazing,” said Javier Sellanes, a marine biologist at the Universidad Católica del Norte, in an official statement.
The incredible species found in the underwater mountain range
Among the species discovered around the Salas y Gómez mountain range, deep-water corals, glass sponges, sea urchins, amphipods, lobsters and others were found. Almost all of the animals had not been seen before in other marine ecosystems.
A lobster of a new species was found in a coral at 669 meters. Photo: Schmidt Ocean Institute
Likewise, the presence of bony animals was found, such as fish of the genus Chaunacops, known as marine toads or coffin fish, according to an article from the National Museum of History. It is estimated that, to survive at that depth, these specimens usually remain motionless most of the time to conserve energy.
A strange bony fish impressed researchers. Photo: Schmidt Ocean Institute
The importance of the discovery
“These thriving and healthy ecosystems indicate that the Nazca-Desventuradas and Juan Fernández marine parks effectively protect delicate marine habitats,” said Sellanes, alluding to marine protected areas in Chile that would have facilitated the preservation of biodiversity in the zone.
For the discovery, a aquatic robot who took photographs 4,500 meters underwater; But, in addition, he captured some specimens from the depths so that they could be analyzed and the classification of their species would be possible.
Likewise, the SOI has announced that on February 24, it began a second expedition through the mountain range to search for more species. According to an article in the journal Science, these findings can help scientists learn about the evolutionary twists that shaped the region.
The robot obtained data from 10 underwater mounts. Photo: National Geographic Pristine Seas and National Geographic Exploration Technology Lab
What is the reason for the presence of so many species in the area?
The large number of endemic species of the place is related to the different depths, the presence of currents and the varied oxygen levels. Likewise, the scarcity of food would have facilitated the development of creatures that adapted to the conditions.
“This area of the Pacific is believed to be especially diverse, as it contains relatively little food. This causes a phenomenon in which there is a really high diversity, but with low numbers of each species,” declared Dr. Lupita Bribiesca-Contreras, researcher of deep-sea species at the Museum of Natural History, for the aforementioned article.