Ocean Census is the name of a project launched in 2023 by the English NGO Nekton and the Nippon Foundatio of Tokyo which aims to survey still unknown forms of aquatic life, searching for them in little-explored areas of our oceans. In its short history, the Ocean Census has already conducted five expeditions, the penultimate of which is the one that interests us today: conducted between February and March of this year around the South Sandwich Islands, in the Southern Sea, it is starting to produce the first results in terms of research.
In fact, in recent days the announcement of the discovery of 30 new species has been made, among which the carnivorous sponge which seems to be made of ping pong balls undoubtedly stands out.
The ping pong sponge. The Southern Ocean, also known as the Southern Ocean, is the least explored of our oceans, one of the reasons why it was chosen as the destination of the February expedition, which was among other things conducted with the use of an “old acquaintance”, the ROV SuBastian, which we told you about last time here. The remotely operated submarine dived to nearly 4,000 meters deep, and over the course of a month collected nearly 2,000 biological samples from 14 different animal groups.
Among these, in fact, a new species of the genus appears Chondrocladiaa sponge that in English is known as a “ping pong ball”. Despite its funny appearance, it is a carnivorous animal, covered in small hooks that it uses to capture crustaceans and other small prey that swim near it.
Not just sponges. The page that tells the story of the expedition also collects photos of other new species discovered by SuBastian: ranging from an iridescent worm to new starfish. The ROV also managed to film a juvenile colossal squid for the first time, and explore a whole new ecosystem hidden beneath an Antarctic glacier.
According to Ocean Census, these discoveries are just the beginning: there is talk of a total of 30 new species discovered after the analysis of the first 30% of the collected samples – the remaining 70% could contain as many surprises. If you want to stay updated on this, the Ocean Census website has an open access database that collects all the discoveries made so far.
