A deep-sea expedition supported by Conservation International has identified more than 100 species previously unknown to science on underwater mountains in the Pacific Ocean. The findings come from the Salas y Gómez and Nazca Ridges, where scientists were able to explore the seafloor in detail for the first time.
The two ridges are underwater mountain chains rising from the Pacific floor, and the source describes them as creating a vortex of life. The area is home to extraordinary marine species, many of which are found nowhere else on Earth. Because the habitat is so specialized, the discoveries underline how much of the ocean's biodiversity remains unrecorded.
The expedition took place last year and was backed by Conservation International, an organization focused on protecting nature. Its researchers studied these seamounts closely, a task that had not been carried out at this level of detail before. The number of new species identified in a single campaign points to how little is known about life on the deep ocean floor.
The conservation group also raised concern about the future of these ecosystems. The creatures living beneath the waves in this region could disappear, which is why the organization frames the work as an effort to safeguard life that scientists are only beginning to understand. Protecting this underwater world, it argues, means protecting that life before its full range is even documented.
Exploration of this kind, the organization says, fundamentally changes how people understand a place and why it matters. The Pacific seamounts are a case in point: without a detailed survey, the species living on them would have remained unknown, and any threats to them would have been difficult to assess.
The discoveries also fit into a broader pattern of unanswered questions about the natural world. Scientists estimate there are more than 1.5 million known zoological species on Earth, and at least as many enigmas about their biology and evolution remain. The deep Pacific expedition shows that even well-studied oceans still hold large gaps in that knowledge, and that a single survey can add a substantial number of species to the record.
Source: youtube.com
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