New Species Photos: Vader-like Jelly, Whale Eater, More

One-of-a-Kind Marine Snail
Photograph courtesy Yoshihiro Fujiwara, JAMSTEC
Covered in neat rows of tiny hairs, this snail from a submarine volcano deep off Japan is the only known specimen of its species.
Shown in an undated picture, the animal—as yet unnamed—is among the many likely new species announced upon the conclusion of the Census of Marine Life.
(See "Six-hundred-year-Old Worms Among Surprises of Ten-year Sea Survey.")
Prior to its final report, released Monday, the decade-long, globe-spanning inventory of ocean life, had already announced the discovery of roughly 6,000 new species.
The new marine snail, of the Alvinoconcha genus, was collected from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent, a realm of extreme pressure, high temperatures, and eternal darkness. At least part of the animal's diet is obtained via symbiotic microbes living inside its gills.
(See another swimming snail found during Census of Marine Life expeditions.)
—Helen Scales
Published October 4, 2010
A Flowering of New Species
Photograph courtesy James Reimer, University of the Ryukyus
Looking like a cluster of cartoon flowers, this potentially new, unnamed zoanthid—a relative of corals and jellyfish—was found and photographed during a November 2009 Census of Marine Life expedition to a coral reef off Australia's Heron Island (map). (See more zoanthids.)
Despite being among the most studied of marine habitat types, tropical coral reefs still hold a multitude of undiscovered species, said marine biologist Nancy Knowlton, of the National Museum of Natural History and the Census of Coral Reefs field project of the Census of Marine Life.
The ten-year census, she said, has shown that coral reefs are "even more diverse than we expected."
Published October 4, 2010
New Whale-Eating Worm
Photograph courtesy Yoshihiro Fujiwara/JAMSTEC
This likely new species of bristling, segmented worm was feasting on a dead whale more than 3,000 feet (925 meters) beneath a Japanese bay when it was found by a Census of Marine Life expedition. (See "New Worms Eat (and Eat and Eat) Only on Dead Whales.")
When many whales die and sink to the ocean floor, they inject a temporary but important flow of nutrients into the deep sea, scientists say.
This attracts a unique gathering of scavenging animals, including many that remain unknown to science.
Published October 4, 2010
New Kangaroo-like Shrimp
Photograph courtesy Magda Blazewicz-Paszkowycz, University of Lodz
Found on Australia's Great Barrier Reef, a tiny shrimplike creature called a tanaid is one of many new reef-dwelling species discovered by the Census of Marine Life—and one of the few announced Monday, the final day of the ten-year survey.
Growing to less than half an inch (1.3 centimeters) long and reared kangaroo-style in a pouch, tanaids are among the many groups of "obscure little things" on reefs that—compared with the relatively well-known fish and corals—remain virtually unstudied, according to marine biologist Nancy Knowlton.
"Finding new species is not a surprise," Knowlton added—it's thought that "90 percent of species on coral reefs don't actually have names."
Published October 4, 2010
See-through Species
Photograph courtesy Magda Blazewicz-Paszkowycz, University of Lodz
Found living in swarms among coral rubble off Australia, this translucent, leggy tanaid—a type of minute crustacean—is yet another potentially new species discovered during the Census of Marine Life and announced Monday. (See more pictures of translucent creatures.)
In addition to uncovering new species, the census provides a baseline for studying future ocean changes, including climate change, acidification, and overfishing.
It also developed a cutting-edge tool kit for further ocean studies, including DNA bar-coding to identify species too small to see with the naked eye.
(Related pictures: "Hard-to-See Sea Creatures Revealed.")
Published October 4, 2010
Jellyfish From the Dark Side
Photograph courtesy Kevin Raskoff, Monterey Peninsula College
Doing a credible impression of Darth Vader's helmet, an acorn-size new species of hydromedusa jellyfish, called Bathykorus bouilloni, pulses through deep chilly Arctic waters in an undated Census of Marine Life picture.
A remotely operated vehicle spotted hundreds of these hydromedusae a mile (1.6 kilometers) down—proving that even swarm-living species have escaped scientific detection until recently.
(See pictures of giant jellyfish off Japan.)
Published October 4, 2010
New Branch for Nature's Family Tree
Photograph courtesy Carlos Moura, CENSAM/Universidade de Aveiro
Members of this new species related to coral, Tubiclaviodes striatum, were first found to be common in Spain's Gulf of Cádiz (map). Further Census of Marine Life expeditions revealed the species to inhabit deep reaches across the northeastern Atlantic.
Often seen clinging to deep-sea carbonate chimneys and among coral debris, these hydroids grow collectively in delicate, branching colonies, as pictured.
Published October 4, 2010
Under the Radar
Photograph courtesy Jan Michels
Though first announced Monday, this feathery-looking new copepod species was first found in 2006 more than three miles (five kilometers) beneath the Atlantic Ocean off western Africa.
When Ceratonotus steiningeri was also found in the southeastern Atlantic and the central Pacific, Census of Marine Life scientists were astonished that such a widespread species had gone unnoticed for so long—though its size, one hundredth of an inch (half a millimeter) long, may have had something to do with it.
(Read about copepods found in New York City drinking water.)
Published October 4, 2010