‘Chock full of incredible animals’: marine expedition uncovers 31 new species in two weeks

Research vessel Falkor (too) in the South Atlantic with two dozen international experts from the US, Australia, Brazil and Japan onboard. Photograph: Alex Ingle/Schmidt Ocean Institute View image in fullscreen Research vessel Falkor (too) in the South Atlantic with two dozen international experts from the US, Australia, Brazil and Japan onboard. Photograph: Alex Ingle/Schmidt Ocean Institute ‘Chock full of incredible animals’: marine expedition uncovers 31 new species in two weeks International experts able to work in ocean midwater off Brazil at near-record speeds thanks to cutting-edge tech A marine biology expedition in international waters off the coast of Brazil has discovered 31 new species in just two weeks. The researchers believe the speed at which the species were found and identified may be a record, in part because of the cutting-edge tech designed and built by the science and engineering team. For the first time on board a ship, the researchers were able to observe the living 3D cellular structure of microbial life thanks to a new technological breakthrough nicknamed the Squid. Two dozen international experts, from the US, Australia, Brazil and Japan, carried out the survey onboard the Falkor (too), a research vessel operated by the Schmidt Ocean Institute with support from the University of Western Australia and several other institutions. Setting out from Salvador, Bahia, their focus was on the ocean midwater – the area between the seafloor and the sunlit layer closer to the surface. The researchers said this was the largest habitat on Earth, encompassing 90% of the living space on our planet, and also one of the least explored. View image in fullscreen A Solmissus, or dinner plate jellyfish, preys upon a ctenophore, commonly known as a comb jelly. Photograph: ROV SuBastian/Schmidt Ocean Institute Among the new discoveries were an amphipod, a type of crustacean related to crabs and lobsters; a fast-moving gossamer worm; nine jellyfish; seven siphonophores, colonial organisms related to jellyfish and corals; seven comb jellies or ctenophores, famous for the glittering cilia they use to swim; four larvaceans, tadpole-like creatures that live in mucus houses and are more closely related to humans than invertebrates; and two giant rhizarians, single-celled organisms visible to the naked eye. View image in fullscreen Dr Karen Osborn, centre, with other researchers in the wet lab onboard Falkor (too), gathering tiny translucent animals from a large container for further study. Photograph: Alex Ingle/Schmidt Ocean Institute “It was pretty exciting,” said the expedition’s chief scientist, Dr Karen Osborn of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. “The midwater is chock full of incredible animals that we don’t know much about. And this was an area that hadn’t been explored before so there were more opportunities to find new species. This must be close to a record for discoveries of new animals in a short space of time.” View ima