Majestic fish, impressive jellyfish or magnificent underwater plants are always the highlights of diving adventures all over the world. In the depths of our seas there are the most extraordinary and beautiful creatures we can imagine. And there is the sea cucumber.
scientist have now discovered a new species: It is pink and slippery and visually has almost nothing in common with a cucumber.
► Overall, the researchers eleven new species of invertebrates In addition to the sea cucumber, numerous crustaceans are also found. They populate the oceans at depths between 5 and 7800 meters.
According to the researchers, the sea cucumber Psychropotes buglossa with the striking color was already described in 1886, but then grouped together with eleven other species in 1975. More recent DNA analyses have now shown that it is a separate species.
► The eleven species also include a crustacean that has so far only been discovered through mysterious holes in Seabed Only after a long period of observation did researchers discover the animal itself and identify it. It is now called Cunicolomaera grata (“favorite cave”).
Threat to the world’s oceans
According to Torben Riehl from the Senckenberg Research Institute still unknown. Many marine animals die due to threats such as overfishing or the Climate change before they are discovered. Invertebrate organisms are particularly affected.
► The new initiative “Ocean Species Discoveries” aims to counteract this. It is a platform on which descriptions of new species can be published. The current new discoveries are among the initiative’s first publications.
Only named species can be included on the Red List in order to then influence political decisions, explains marine researcher Julia Sigwart.