Scientists Discovered 57 Species In a South Atlantic Submarine Canyon

Oct 06, 2026 - 19:06

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Scientists Discovered 57 Species In a South Atlantic Submarine Canyon

A split-screen view shows a translucent, gelatinous sea cucumber on the left and a long-stalked, pale organism being held by a robotic claw on the right.

Scientists working for the Ocean Census Network identified 57 new marine species and five new genera in just two weeks of exploration. Initial photos show some pretty wild animals.

Led by the Nippon Foundation-Nekton Ocean Census in partnership with the Schmidt Ocean Institute, scientists explored the Mar del Plata Submarine Canyon in the South Atlantic Ocean. This submarine canyon off the coast of Argentina is over 3,500 meters (over 11,400 feet) deep, or about twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. As the myriad discoveries suggest, it’s an area rich with biodiversity.

A blue and white research vessel, the Falkor (too), floats on calm, dark blue water under a clear sky.

A yellow remotely operated vehicle named Subastian is being lowered into the ocean by a large white crane on a ship.

Of the 57 newly identified species, 20 are copepods, 22 are echinoderms (sea cucumbers and crinoids), 14 are cnidarians (octocorals, sea pens, and stony corals), and the last one is a scaphopod mollusk. The five new scientific genera include corals, sea cucumbers, and crustaceans.

A large, bright orange fan-shaped coral grows from a rocky seafloor at a depth of 1954 meters.

A purple sea cucumber rests on the sandy ocean floor next to a pink coral colony and a small sea anemone.

A microscopic view of a copepod, a small aquatic crustacean with a segmented body, feathery antennae, and swimming legs.

“International cooperation in taxonomy is critical, especially in groups with few active specialists. The species discovery workshop accelerated species identification, the recognition of species new to science, and increased capacity building for local early-career taxonomists working on deep-sea fauna,” says Dr. Daniel Lauretta, Principal Investigator from CONICET and the Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales.

A man in a blue fleece jacket holds a large glass jar containing preserved specimens in a laboratory setting with several other sample jars on the table in front of him.

While the discoveries are only now being shared, the expedition itself took place just over a year ago, led by Dr. Lauretta. The team even live-streamed some of the expedition from their remote-controlled vehicle, SuBastian. Over four million people tuned in, and they were enthralled by a bright orange sea star that looks uncannily like Patrick Star from Spongebob Squarepants, albeit with Patrick’s trademark shorts. It wasn’t a new species, though.

A bright orange, five-armed starfish rests on a dark, textured seafloor surrounded by several small, thin-legged brittle stars.

One standout new species is Peniagone sp., now commonly known as “Loki the Sea Cucumber.” This striking sea cucumber has prominent horned appendages and is one of up to 10 new holoturian species discovered during the expedition.

A translucent, pale pink sea cucumber with a bulbous body and small, leg-like appendages rests on a sandy ocean floor.

“Discovering 57 new species and five new genera in just two weeks demonstrates the speed and power of collaborative taxonomy,” explains Dr. Michelle Taylor, Ocean Census Head of Science.

A robotic arm from a research submersible holds a long, thin, pale stalk-like organism with a curled, fleshy top against a dark, deep-sea background.

“The deep sea holds some of the least understood ecosystems on Earth. By bringing Latin America’s scientific expertise and international experts together with, as well as connecting them to the open-access Ocean Census NOVA platform, we are drastically accelerating our understanding of marine biodiversity,” Dr. Taylor continues.

There is still so much left to discover in the ocean. PetaPixel previously reported on 31 new deep-sea species in June, which SuBastian and the Schmidt Ocean Institute also photographed. The same institute photographed rare deep-sea species like the Casper Octopus and Spaghetti Monsters and quite possibly the world’s cutest bony fish in 2024.