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Discovery of vibrant deep-sea life prompts new worries over seabed mining

“Gummy squirrels,” single-celled organisms the size of softballs and strange worms thrive in a Pacific Ocean zone some considered an underwater desert.
  1. Amy Maxmen
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Deep in the eastern central Pacific Ocean, on a stretch of sea floor nearly as big as the continental United States, researchers are discovering species faster than they can name them. And they are exploring newfound fossil beds of whales that lived up to 16 million years ago.

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Nature 561, 443-444 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-06771-w

Updates & Corrections

  • Correction 24 September 2018: This story incorrectly stated that the International Seabed Authority began issuing contracts to explore the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in 2011; in fact, the authority started the process in 2001.

References

  1. Marsh, L., Huvenne, V. A. I. & Jones, D. O. B. R. Soc. Open Sci. 5, 180286 (2018).

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