Census of Marine Life
kthompson | November 29, 2009Surely, you've heard about the Census of Marine Life, a 10 year long effort to "assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of marine life." You may have wondered why it took until 2000 to launch such a project, or why you didn't think to do it first.
This epic venture (which we've posted about here and here) is quickly coming to a close... snorkles are being given one last clean-out blow, goggles are getting a final spit rub, and wetsuits are being signed with "be-cool-stay-in-fish-schools." To mark the occasion, COML provided an end of the year press release last week,…
bleimanb | November 14, 2008The Census of Marine life is the gift that keeps on giving. Here are the latest pics of some new species they've discovered at the bottom of the ocean.
A blind lobster from the genus--Thaumastochelopsis
Sweet new comb jelly
More below the fold...
Ampelisca mississippiana - a new kind of amphipod
New species of squat lobster
Adorable new pebble crab
A new species of shrimp, seen here standing on a yellow worm (they both eat the same marine plants)
Read more about these species on nationalgeographic.com.
zooillogix | September 19, 2008Marine biologists off the coast of Australia have discovered what they believe to be hundreds of new species on the Great Barrier and Ningaloo Reefs. The project is part of CReefs, a global census of coral reefs, which is in turn part of the larger Census of Marine Life, an ongoing effort to catalog all ocean life.
The researchers were kind enough to take a number of incredible photos, many of which we share below. It's not clear to me which of these are newly identified organisms and which are just pretty critters they encountered along the way, but many of them are spectacular regardless…