Utilizing a high-tech deep water robot, an international group of scientists report they may have discovered over 100 new species of sea life in explorations of undersea mountains, or seamounts, off the coast of Chile.
The team from Schmidt Ocean Institute, headed by Professor Javier Sellanes of the Universidad Católica del Norte, explored seamounts along the Nazca and Salas y Gómez Ridge and two existing protected marine areas to collect data that could support the designation of a new international high-seas marine protected area. The Salas y Gómez Ridge is a 1,800-mile-long underwater mountain chain comprising more than 200 seamounts that stretch from offshore Chile to Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island.
The expedition collected numerous samples, including deep-sea corals, glass sponges, sea urchins, amphipods, squat lobsters and other species likely new to science.
“We far exceeded our hopes on this expedition,” said Sellanes in a post on the Schmidt Institute website. “You always expect to find new species in these remote and poorly explored areas, but the amount we found, especially for some groups like sponges, is mind-blowing.
“These thriving and healthy ecosystems indicate that the Nazca-Desventuradas and Juan Fernández Marine Parks effectively protect delicate marine habitats.”
Schmidt scientists used an underwater robot, capable of descending to depths of over 14,000 feet, to collect data from 10 seamounts that will be used to advance Chile’s marine protection efforts. The researchers reported that each seamount hosted distinct ecosystems, many of which are vulnerable, including thriving deep-sea coral reefs and sponge gardens. In order to assess whether the samples gathered in the expedition come from previously unknown species, researchers will analyze the physiology and genetics of the specimens they suspect are new to science.
But it’s a process that will take some time.
“Full species identification can take many years, and Dr. Sellanas and his team have an incredible number of samples from this amazingly beautiful and little-known biodiversity hotspot,” Schmidt Ocean Institute executive director Jyotika Virmani said in the web post.
In addition to the sea life sample collection, the Schmidt expedition mapped over 52,000 square miles of ocean floor and four newly discovered seamounts. The biggest of the new discoveries was informally named Solito, which means “alone” in Spanish, by Schmidt researchers. The undersea mountain towers more than 11,000 feet above the sea floor.
Schmidt Ocean Institute is a nonprofit organization founded in 2009 by tech veteran and longtime Google CEO Eric Schmidt. The institute is a partner with the Nippon Foundation–Nekton Ocean Census Program, which has set a target of finding 100,000 new marine species in the next 10 years.