A new initiative that boosts collaboration between marine scientists is helping to speed up the process of identifying and categorizing newly discovered aquatic invertebrates.
As Pensoft Publishers posted to EurekAlert, Ocean Species Discoveries hopes that a change in approach can ensure that these animals are studied before being at risk of extinction through human activities, such as deep-sea mining and polymetallic-nodule extraction.
The Senckenberg Ocean Species Alliance leads the way, while the Biodiversity Data Journal publishes the findings.
Scientists are concerned that new species descriptions can take as long as decades, and this is hindering progress on protection and education. But this new platform enables a much faster process while allowing for thorough descriptions of marine invertebrates.
In the first evidence of the initiative's success, a team of 25 researchers produced data on 13 different invertebrates for publication, including 11 new species. These creatures were found in areas across the globe, living in depths between 5.2 meters and 7,081 meters.
Dr. Torben Riehl, a researcher who worked on Ocean Species Discoveries, spoke about the new process in the EurekAlert post.
"Currently, there's a notable delay in naming and describing new animals, often because journals expect additional ecological or phylogenetic insights," Riehl said. "This means many marine species go undescribed due to lack of data. OSD addresses this by offering concise, complete taxonomic descriptions without requiring a specific theme, refocusing attention on taxonomy's importance."
One of the species described in the first published release is the wrinkly-shelled limpet, which lives in hydrothermal vent zones. This species is at risk because of deep-sea mining, but by confirming its classification quicker, scientists are empowered to study these creatures before they are under threat.
Similarly, the purple sea cucumber is threatened by increased focus on potentially lucrative metallic nodules on the ocean floor. These nodules contain valuable metals, such as copper, nickel, manganese, and cobalt, which can be used in battery production for electric vehicles.
That's why companies are investigating the viability of removing them from the ocean floor, billing it as a cheaper and more environmentally friendly way to source these materials without the need for mining.
However, the dredging required to get the nodules can impact ocean habitats, which the purple sea cucumber relies on. But quicker classification can aid in protection efforts to potentially slow down approvals for this damaging activity.
"Only by leveraging the collective strengths of global progress, expertise, and technological advancements, will we be able to describe the estimated 1.8 million unknown species living in our oceans," said Professor Julia Sigwart of Queen's University Belfast, a contributor to Ocean Species Discoveries.
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