Hairy crabs and other new creatures discovered at underwater 'Dragon's Breath'
Hairy-chested crabs, rare snails, and deep-sea worms are among a half-dozen new聽species recently discovered in the Indian Ocean.
A team of scientists from the University of Southampton announced the six new marine species Friday after studying the undersea hot springs of Longqi, or 鈥淒ragon鈥檚 Breath,鈥� located 1.7 miles beneath the ocean鈥檚 surface and more than 1,200 miles southeast of Madagascar.
Led by Jon Copley, the researchers studied more than a dozen hydrothermal vents, also called spires or vent chimneys, some of which spiral at two stories above the ocean floor and emit hot fluids and minerals. The ever-plentiful 鈥渕ineral-laden water鈥� flowing out of the vent chimneys 聽鈥撀燼nd, more recently, an ideal location for seafloor mining of copper and gold.听
Dr. Copley and his fellow researchers suggest聽that the mining in the Longqi area should be put on hold until further analysis of the area 鈥� and the species that live there 鈥� can be done.听
鈥淥ur results highlight the need to explore other hydrothermal vents in the southwest Indian Ocean and investigate the connectivity of their populations, before any impacts from mineral exploration activities and future deep-sea mining can be addressed,鈥� said Copley .听
The researchers also found a number of species that live at other hydrothermal vent sites, even thousands of miles away in the Antarctic and Pacific. The six newly discovered species may also have a broader range, the team said.
鈥淲e can be certain that the new species we鈥檝e found also live elsewhere in the southwest Indian Ocean, as they will have migrated here from other sites,鈥� Copley said, 鈥渂ut at the moment no-one really knows where, or how well-connected their populations are with those at Longqi.鈥�
The International Seabed Authority, the organization responsible for issuing contracts to companies interested in seafloor mining, recognizes their responsibility to 鈥� (that is, the biodiversity) of the marine environment.鈥� To protect these areas鈥� biodiversity, the ISA requires contractors to gather environmental baseline data at each step of the exploration process.
鈥淒eep sea mining ,鈥澛燗ndrew Thurber, a researcher at Oregon State University's College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, told Vice's Motherboard in 2014:
"It is a destructive process that is used to get resources that are either wanted or needed. It's very easy to say it is 'bad' but I, like everyone else, use materials that come from a mining operation and so rather than just say no, what is more important is to understand both the inherent risk to the ecosystem but also the other services that the ecosystem provides."聽
I, however, the team of nine scientists say 鈥渇urther exploration is needed to determine whether the faunal assemblage at Longqi is typical of vent fields on this very slow to ultraslow-spreading ridge.鈥� Until such information is available, the Longqi vents meet the criteria for an 鈥淓cologically or Biologically Sensitive Area鈥� under the UN Convention of Biological Diversity, say the researchers, and warrant protection.
