Ocean Census voyage – Bounty Trough. Researchers collect animals from the sample. (Ocean Census)
The world may be losing species to extinction, but it is also gaining new ones too. Almost 100 potential new aquatic species were recently discovered in the underexplored Bounty Trough off New Zealand’s coast by a team of scientists from NIWA (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research) and Te Papa in New Zealand together with Ocean Census, a global program with a mission to “accelerate the discovery and protection of ocean life before it’s too late.”
The scientists collected almost 1800 samples from as deep as 4800 meters underwater along the 800-kilometer-long Bounty Trough.
Ocean Census Science Director Professor Alex Rogers, who co-led the expedition, said, “It looks like we have a great haul of new, undiscovered species. By the time all our specimens are examined, we will be north of 100 new species. But what’s really surprised me here is the fact this extends to animals like fish – we think we’ve got three new species of fish.”
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The Bounty Trough is a major submerged feature, a bathymetric depression, of the oceanography of the southwest Pacific Ocean. It is located off the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island. It is named after the Bounty Islands near the Eastern end of the trough, which in turn are named after HMS Bounty. The Bounty Trough is a relatively unexplored area and is thought to be home to a variety of unique marine life.
Voyage co-leader NIWA marine biologist Sadie Mills says the expedition has shown the Bounty Trough is flourishing with life.
“We’ve gone to lots of different habitats and discovered a whole range of new species, from fish to snails, to corals and sea cucumbers – really interesting species that are going to be new to science,” she said. “Ocean Census has enabled us to explore an area of Aotearoa’s deep seafloor that we previously knew little about in terms of the animals that live there.”
“This partnership will not only add new species to our recently published New Zealand marine biodiversity inventory, but will improve our understanding of the seafloor habitats and living geographic and depth ranges of rare species,” she added.
