Ocean floors do not cease to surprise scientists. Now, “a surprising amount” potentially new species They were found in the first study of deep-sea life on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the Australian Indian Ocean, and this shows a multitude of still unknown life forms hiding on the seafloor. Also, they are often strange creatures with completely possible shapes found on the seafloor this archipelago.
A group of scientists led by the Victoria Museums Research Institute has mapped the area’s recently protected seafloor in detail for the first time. Massive flat-topped ancient seamounts surrounded by volcanic cones, interlocking ridges, and canyons of sand avalanches sank to the bottom of the bottomless ocean.
The research vessel ‘Investigator’, operated by Australia’s national science agency CSIRO, has investigated previously unknown deep-sea life in the Indian Ocean Territory. In 35 days and a 1,000-km journey, an underwater video revealed a wide variety of fish swimming in the tops of seamounts, and samples of these were collected up to five kilometers below the surface, Europa Press reported.
Some of the most fascinating finds include:
– A previously unknown blind eel It was discovered at a depth of about five kilometers and was covered with a gelatinous and transparent skin. Their eyes are poorly developed and, unusual for a fish, females give birth at a young age.
– bat fish from the deep waters that roam the seabed with their arm-shaped fins. They have a small “fishing lure” in a small hole in their noses to attract their prey.
– batypterois guentheriIt has incredibly long lower fins with thick tips, which allows it to rise from the bottom as if on stilts, giving it the perfect height to feed small shrimp swimming upstream.
– rare pelican eel with a small head in front of their huge jaws and a stomach that can expand to swallow large food. Pelican eels are covered with velvety black skin and have a light organ at the tip of their tails to attract their prey.
– lizard fish High fins are voracious deep-sea predators with mouths filled with long, sharp teeth. They belong to a group of fish that are synchronous hermaphrodites; they have an ovotesticle with functional male and female reproductive tissue at the same time.
– greedy Chauliodus sloani, with large tooth-like teeth visible even with the mouth closed. The viperfish has rows of light stamens on the underside and a very long upper fin with light stamens at the ends to attract prey.
– thin scissor eelIt is found at depths up to 4 km below the sea surface. It can reach a length of one meter while weighing only 50 grams with its long thread-like tail. Permanently open, the curved jaws are covered with small hooked teeth that engage in crustacean prey.
– sea ​​urchin pancakeIt has a delicate skeleton that flattens out like a pancake when it comes out of the water. The spines are covered with venom.
– The pumice stones probably originate from the 1883 eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia.
“We’ve discovered a surprising number of potentially new species living in this remote marine park,” said lead scientist Dr Tim O’Hara on the Victoria Museum Research Institute expedition.
The team produced detailed 3D images of the massive mountain beneath the Cocos (Keeling) Islands that have never been mapped in detail before.
The dataset now covers a significant area of ​​the new marine park and shows the Cocos (Keeling) Islands as the twin peaks of a massive seamount rising nearly 5,000m above the surrounding seafloor.
Click this link to download all images.
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Environment department contact address:crisclimatica@prensaiberica.es
Source: Informacion
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