100 New Deep-Sea Species, Including Mystery Creature, Found In New Zealand

Marine researchers have found 100 new species in the uncharted waters of Bounty Trough off the coast of South Island of New Zealand. According to New York Times (NYT), the team consisted of 21 researchers who carried out the expedition in February. Their discovery included dozens of mollusks, three fish, a shrimp and a predatory squid and the number of likely to grow, the outlet further said quoting Alex Rogers, a marine biologist who was a leader of the expedition.

During the three-week voyage, the researchers thoroughly scanned the 800-kilometre-long Bounty Trough aboard the vessel Tangaroa.

"I expect that number to increase as we work through more and more of the samples. I think that number is going to be in the hundreds instead of just 100," said Dr Rogers.

The discovery includes a star-shaped animal, about a centimetre across, which has not been identified, as per the NYT report.

The team collected 1,800 samples from a depth of about five kilometres, said CNN.

"You've got this big area off the east coast of New Zealand where there's just an absolutely paucity of data points. We don't know anything about it," said Dr Daniel Moore, expedition science manager of Ocean Census, a non-profit organisation. "It was true exploration, very exciting."

Along with Ocean Census, the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in New Zealand, and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa were also part of the expedition.

Talking about the star-shaped organism, Dr Moore said, "It is still a mystery. We can't even describe it to family. We don't know where it is in the tree (of life) as of yet, so that'll be interesting."

Dr Michela Mitchell, a taxonomist at the Queensland Museum Network, said in a statement released by Ocean Census it could be a type of deep-sea coral called octocoral.

More than two million species are estimated to live in the oceans, but only 10 per cent of ocean life is known. This discovery will help marine researchers understand the undersea life better.