Hundreds of new marine species discovered: Australian scientists

Yahoo News 9 Oct 08;

Hundreds of new marine species and previously uncharted undersea mountains and canyons have been discovered in the depths of the Southern Ocean, Australian scientists said Wednesday.
A total of 274 species of fish, ancient corals, molluscs, crustaceans and sponges new to science were found in icy waters up to 3,000 metres (9,800 feet) deep among extinct volcanoes, they said.

The scientists mapped undersea mountains up to 500 metres high and canyons larger than the Grand Canyon for the first time, the government's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) said.

The finds were made in marine reserves 100 nautical miles south of the Australian island of Tasmania during two CSIRO voyages in November 2006 and April 2007 using new sonar and video technology as well as seafloor sampling.

Announcing the discoveries in the Tasmanian capital Hobart, CSIRO scientist Kate Wilson said more was known about the surface of Mars than the depths of the world's oceans.

"In Australian waters, for example, more than 40 percent of the creatures brought to the surface by our scientists on a voyage of discovery have never been seen before," she said.

A total of 123 underwater mountains were found, said CSIRO specialist Nic Bax, noting they were home to thousands of deep-sea animals.

"They're really what we call the rainforests of the deep, they provide an area where we get a very wide range of species collected and that's really unique in the deep sea environment," he said.

In the cold depths of the Southern Ocean "things grow quite slowly so when you're looking at a coral which is maybe two metres high, it may also be 300 years old or more," said Bax.

"So you end up seeing some very old things down there. You can see corals which probably existed 2,000 years ago down there."
Scientists said that only a tiny proportion of Australia's oceans had been explored in such a way and they could only speculate on the biodiversity hidden under the water.

"We have no idea how many species there are, and most of the species we get we only catch once," Bax said.

Environment Minister Peter Garrett described the results as "an amazing day for Australian science".

"It's extraordinary to think that we've put someone on the moon and we're very familiar with lots of parts of the planet, we've got Google Earth and yet here we are, we've got parts of the planet that have never been sighted or explored before," he told national radio.

The minister said the research would help the effort to conserve Australia's ocean biodiversity.

"It'll greatly inform scientists as they deepen their understanding about likely climate change impacts, water currents, and impacts of water temperature on the diversity of species," Garrett said.

New life revealed in rainforests of the deep
Sophie Tedmanson in Sydney and Julia Belluz, Times Online 9 Oct 08;

A rare species of stingray, a 2,000-year-old coral and extinct underwater volcanoes are among hundreds of discoveries found under the ocean by a scientific expedition off the coast of Australia.

Marine experts say that the discoveries shine a new light on what they say are some of the most biologically important oceanic habitats in the world.

In the icy waters of a Southern Ocean marine park, 100 nautical miles off the coast of Tasmania, scientists found more than 270 new marine species — including fish, crustaceans, molluscs, sponges and corals — and 80 previously unknown seamounts or underwater mountains.

The undersea mountains, which measured half a mile high and 15 miles (25km) wide, form “rainforests of the deep”. For the first time scientists also laid eyes upon underwater canyons larger than the Grand Canyon in Arizona.

The £600,000 scientific expedition was led by Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), the national science agency.

Announcing the discoveries in the Tasmanian capital, Hobart, the CSIRO scientist Kate Wilson said that the oceans remain a mystery — more is known about the surface of Mars.

“In Australian waters, for example, more than 40 per cent of the creatures brought to the surface by our scientists on a voyage of discovery have never been seen before,” she said.

Scientists said that only a tiny proportion of Australia’s oceans had been explored in such a way and that they could only speculate on the biodiversity hidden under the water.

The discoveries were made during two voyages in November 2006 and April 2007. The expedition focused on reserves in the Southeast Commonwealth Marine Reserve Network, which covers 226,000 sq km (87,300 sq miles) of the Southern Ocean.

Scientists used special sonar equipment and video technology on board the vessels to create a map of the seabed and detected the 80 previously unknown underwater mountains and 145 new undersea canyons.

Nic Bax, the CSIRO marine resource management expert,said that some of the oldest discoveries included 2,000-year-old living black coral, bamboo coral more than 300 years old, and fish about 200 years old. Carbon dating was used to determine the age of the deep-sea treasures. In total 123 underwater mountains were also revealed.

Of the discoveries about 70 per cent had never been seen by humans before. “We have no idea how many species there are, and most of the species we get we only catch once,” Dr Bax said. “So who knows how many more are down there,” he added.

In the cold depths of the Southern Ocean “things grow quite slowly so when you’re looking at a coral which is maybe two metres high, it may also be 300 years old or more,” said Dr Bax. “These findings indicate how little we know about marine species around Australia and the deep sea.”

A live stingray, from a species of which only one dead specimen had ever been found in Australian waters, was also captured, and a glass sponge, so delicate that it could not be brought to the surface without breaking it.

More links

• Slideshow of 10 photos and video clips on ABC news and Reuters on the yahoo news site.
• CISRO website