NEW ORLEANS alien creatures with a strange body shape is found from the ocean floor during the last marine survey. There is a spiral transparent sea cucumber, fish flapping like a pair of large fins ear 'dumbo' elephant Walt Disney characters, and tube worms that eat oil.
A report issued Sunday (23/11) were recorded, 17 650 species that live below 656 feet (approximately 200 m) above sea level, in places untouched by sunlight. These findings are the latest results from the 10-yearly census of marine wildlife.
"The parts of the ocean floor that we had a similar thought was very complex," said Robert S. Carney, an expert in oceanography from the University of the State of Louisiana and also a leading researcher on the ocean floor.
Thousands of marine species survive in the depths of the ocean of darkness with a way to consume materials that decompose slowly sinking, including the bones of a whale. According to the report, oil and methane is also a source of energy for the inhabitants of the sea bottom.
With this report, researchers have found about 5,600 new species in addition to 230,000 that had been recorded previously. They estimated a list of newly discovered species will grow several thousand more before the month of October 2010, when the census will be completed. Scientists also claim to have found 5722 species living in extreme depths of the ocean, in waters deeper than 3,280 feet (approximately 975 m).
"Basic ocean was regarded as a desert without inhabitants until recently; pretty awesome to document more than 20,000 types of species in an area that was suspected of not Bohemian," said Jesse Ausubel of the Alfred P. Foundation Sloan, a sponsor of this census.
"Basic ocean is a region that at least terjelajah on earth," he added. Scientists say there are currently estimated at more than a million marine species that are still unknown. Compare with the mainland, where biologists have registered about 1.5 million of flora and fauna.
More than 40 new coral species documented in the mountains on the ocean floor, and also stretch brittlestar and anemones covering the cities. Nearly 500 new species, ranging from single-cell creature to a large squid have been found in the depths of the plains and ocean manger.
One important finding is that 170 new species obtain energy from chemicals released from the holes in the bottom of the ocean. One is the familia 'Yeti crab', a fluffy on its legs.
"In the middle Atlantic Ocean, the researchers found 40 new species of the total 1,000 that exist," says Odd Aksel Bergstad, an expert in oceanography from the University of Bergen, Norway, in the Azores Islands when interviewed by telephone.
"I was surprised to find many of life on the ocean," he said. "In fact there is no good map for this area. Our understanding of existing biological diversity here is very limited," he explained.
More than 2,000 scientists from 80 countries are working to catalog the species in the oceans. However, examining the gulf seabed is quite expensive and difficult because it requires the camera to extreme depths, sonar, and remotely operated vehicle that takes $ 50,000 per day.
Once the census is completed, planned publication of three books: popular survey of marine animals, then a second book with separate chapters for each working group, and the third focuses on biological diversity.
