This video requires the latest version of Flash Player. Click here to download. This video requires the latest version of Flash Player. Click here to download.Published April 18, 2010
The Census of Marine Life's ten-year study has uncovered numerous hard-to-see species unknown to science. For starters, an area the size of a small bathroom revealed 700 species of crustaceans.
© 2010 National Geographic
RELATED
· Pictures: Hard-to-See Sea Creatures Revealed
Unedited Transcript
They’re mini-masterpieces…
Built with microscopic elegance…
The small and hard to see life of the sea…
Microbes…
Larvae…
Burrowers…
And they’ve been photographed…
And catalogued…
As part of a massive marine collaboration of scientists from across the globe…
Dr. Snellgrove
The Census of Marine Life is a ten-year program to try and uncover as much as we can about the diversity, distribution and abundance of life in the ocean.
A portion of this project, the Census of “Hard to See” Marine Life, focused on the smallest sea creatures…
And found them in spectacular abundance…
Dr. Snellgrove
…there was one sampling area in the South Atlantic that sampled an area about the size of a small bathroom. And found 700 species of just crustaceans, most of which were new to science.
Huge numbers of rarely seen species are coming to light…
And scientists are gaining a new understanding of the dynamics of a microbial world, on which all other life depends.
Dr. Snellgrove
…the microbes actually play a really key role in the way that nutrients move through the ocean. And if they weren’t there the ocean would shut down very quickly, the planet would shut down very quickly.
Census explorers recently found that microbes form mats on the sea floor off the west coast of South America. These mats rank among Earth’s largest masses of life, and cover a surface comparable in size to Greece
Amazingly, Census of Marine Life estimates that all microbes in the global ocean collectively weigh the equivalent of 240 billion African elephants!
All that the Census has learned over the last ten years…
About hard-to-see creatures…
And all the animals that live in the world's oceans…
Will be formally released in October 2010.
The results of this massive effort will give scientists an unprecedented new understanding, of life in the world ocean.
Latest News
Trending News
-
Mystery of Deadly Volcanic Eruption Solved?
Using ice cores, geochemistry, tree rings, and ancient texts, scientists discover which volcano erupted in the 13th century with worldwide effects.
-
First Cloud Map of Exoplanet
For the first time, astronomers can forecast cloudy skies on a distant exoplanet.
-
First Face Found—On a Fish
The extinct animal's face structure could help explain how vertebrates, including people, evolved our distinctive look.
Advertisement
Celebrating 125 Years
-
Explorer Moment: America by Night
Annie Agnone discovers that when the sun sets, the monks rise.
-
From the Stacks: Meow Mix, 1938
Not all the animals National Geographic has covered have been wild ones.
News Blogs
Connect With Nat Geo
