30 New Species Discovered in the Deep Waters of the Galapagos Islands

A multidisciplinary team from several organisations discovered 30 new species of invertebrates in the deep waters of the Galapagos Islands, the National Park of that archipelago reported on August 17.

Citing an article that appeared in the journal Scientific Reports, after a study carried out for ten days in 2015, it highlighted that "four species of squat lobsters have been identified, one of giant cup coral, ten of bamboo corals, three of octocorals, one of brittle starfish and eleven of sponges".

The expedition reached 3,400 metres in depth using the underwater vehicles operated remotely, which explored for the first time three seamounts located around the islands of Darwin and Wolf.

"Now with the discovery of these 30 new species for science, we reaffirm the importance of conserving marine protected areas," said Danny Rueda, Galapagos National Park Director

The exploration revealed a number of underwater communities, between depths of 290 and 3,373 metres, including multiple fragile habitats such as crystal sponge gardens, coral gardens and cold-water coral colonies, which are considered marine ecosystems and vulnerable.

Since 1979, Galapagos was designated by the United Nations as a Natural Heritage of Humanity, due to its unique species in the world of animals and plants, terrestrial and marine, in which the English scientist Charles Darwin was inspired to expound on his theory of the Evolution of the Species.

For the exploration of the deep sea two remote-controlled vehicles were used: Argus and Hercules, in addition to seabed mapping systems, through which biological samples were collected using a robotic arm.

The individual organisms were separated, photographed and stored.

At the end of the exploration in 2015, the specimens were sent to renowned deep-sea experts for analysis and identification.

The study had the support of the Charles Darwin Foundation, in collaboration with the Galapagos National Park and the Ocean Exploration Trust, with support from the Office of Exploration and Research of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to fund the exploration, as well as the Helmsley Charitable Trust and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

The Galapagos Islands, an insular territory of Ecuador, are located in the Pacific Ocean, 1,000 kilometres from the Ecuadorian coast.

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