'Race' to name new creatures at the bottom of the ocean

According to AFP news agency, the increasing demand for mining metals and minerals at the bottom of the ocean has led to a race to name new creatures.

Sea urchins Plesiodiadema globulosum live in dense concentrations in the Clarion-Clipperton area between Hawaii and Mexico - Photo: AFP

Researchers are working to name thousands of new species of creatures and animals discovered in the seas and oceans.

Currently in the sights of miners and researchers around the world is the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) - an abyssal plain stretching about 4.5 million km ² between Hawaii and Mexico.

Scientists previously thought the CCZ was a vast wasteland almost the size of the American continent lying at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean . Contrary to popular belief, the area contains trillions of polymetallic nodules (also known as manganese nodules, containing four essential base metals: cobalt, nickel, copper and manganese) the size of potatoes.

The CCZ is also home to a wide variety of creatures and animals, from tiny worms hidden in the sediments to soft sponges that undulate with every movement of the Pacific Ocean waters.

According to the first statistics of scientific expeditions in the CCZ in 2023, about 90% of the 5,000 species of animals and organisms discovered in this area are newly discovered species. The International Seabed Authority (ISA) aims to record more than 1,000 new species of animals and organisms in the CCZ by 2030.

However, learning about and naming new species of animals at the bottom of the ocean is not easy. Ms. Tammy Horton, an expert at the National Oceanography Center in the UK, revealed that she and her team of experts spent a year but could only analyze and sketch information on 27 of more than 100 new crustacean species that have not yet been named.

It is important to learn more about new species of marine life to learn about their habitats, how many subspecies they have, their distribution ranges, and their positive and negative impacts on the environment.

Environmental campaigners say this biodiversity is Mother Nature's greatest and most mysterious treasure on Earth.

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/cuoc-dua-dat-ten-cho-cac-sinh-vat-moi-duoi-day-dai-duong-20250318093350235.htm