MARINE EXPEDITION DISCOVERS 31 NEW SPECIES OFF BRAZIL IN TWO WEEKS

An international research expedition working in ocean midwater off the coast of Brazil identified 31 new species over a two-week period. The team of roughly two dozen experts from the United States, Australia, Brazil and Japan conducted the survey aboard the Falkor (too), a research vessel operated by the Schmidt Ocean Institute. The expedition departed from Salvador, Bahia, and focused its investigation on the midwater zone—the area between the seafloor and the sunlit upper layers of the ocean.

The discoveries included an amphipod crustacean, a gossamer worm, nine jellyfish species, seven siphonophores, seven comb jellies, four larvaceans and two giant rhizarians. Dr Karen Osborn, chief scientist on the expedition from the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, described the findings as potentially close to a record for new species discoveries within such a short timeframe. The researchers stated that the midwater comprises approximately 90 per cent of all living space on Earth, making it simultaneously the planet's largest habitat and one of the least explored.

A technological breakthrough employed during the voyage—a spinning wheel confocal microscope dubbed the Squid—enabled researchers to use lasers to examine the microscopic cellular structure of living organisms with unprecedented detail at sea. Dr Osborn stated that this capability opens possibilities for new forms of exploration. The Schmidt Ocean Institute, working with the University of Western Australia and several other institutions, supported the research effort.