Scientists uncover more marine species, clues to octopus origins

Scientists have discovered hundreds of new species and traced the origins of certain animals in an ambitious project that aims to create a detailed catalogue of every marine life form on Earth.

From a thick carpet of crustaceans in the Gulf of Mexico to an octopus identified as the progenitor for most deep-sea octopuses, international researchers say they're getting a better handle on what's in the oceans, where species travel and what state they're in.

"What we're trying to do is synthesize all of these different pieces of the marine ecosystem and put them together into a coherent story that connects from the top to the bottom and from the Arctic to the Antarctic," says Ron O'Dor, a Halifax marine biology professor and a senior scientist at the Census of Marine Life.

On Tuesday, scientists will meet in Spain and highlight the discoveries they have made. Around the world, 2,000 scientists from about 80 countries are closing in on a deadline of 2010 to produce the first census, almost seven years after beginning the project.

O'Dor said some of the discoveries that will be presented at the conference on marine biodiversity include areas where white sharks and sturgeons congregate, molecular evidence of the origin of the deep-sea octopus and what lives around the deepest hot vents.

They have documented about 120,000 species so far and expect that to more than double to about 250,000 by 2010. Of those, they estimate there could be thousands of new species.

Paul Snelgrove, a deep sea biologist based in St. John's, N.L., said they've already found new bacteria in the Black Sea that form four-metre high "chimneys," sea spiders the size of dinner plates in the Southern Ocean and giant oysters 20 centimetres long.

Scientists discovering fragile ecosystems

"We're finding these very key species that are major players in the ecosystem," said Snelgrove, who's responsible for compiling the census information. "This shows that there's still plenty of opportunity for discovery and that's really exciting."

But the research has also created a bleak picture of what's happening in marine ecosystems that have been hammered by human pressures like fishing and pollution, and climate change.

They've seen, for example, how the depletion of large predators like sharks is having a spiral effect on smaller animals down the food chain in ecosystems throughout the world.

And for the first time, scientists have been able to present a global perspective on what's happening in the oceans by sharing information on various species that span international boundaries and might require joint management.

"That's really been one of the real achievements of the census is bringing scientists together from around the world to solve a common problem," Snelgrove said.

"We can get this very large-scale view of things, which I think is going to be very important in terms of ocean management."

The scientists say the information could be critical to fisheries managers who could get a better understanding of where tuna migrate, where sharks congregate and what's happening to food sources.

Snelgrove said the reams of material will be compiled in books to be released in 2010 and online. The census is also feeding information to other projects like the Encyclopedia of Life, which is documenting all life forms.