Six New Invertebrate Species Discovered in Antarctic
28.05.2010 - Water & Oceans, Flora & Fauna, Antarctic
Polyps of the new gorgonea have been found in Antarctica, according to two different studies published in the journals Polar Biology and Scientia Marina.
Two of them, Tauroprimnoa austasensis and Digitogorgia kuekenthali, were found in the Eastern Weddell Sea and to the Southeast of the Falkland Islands respectively. They stand out by the number, shape and layout of the scales of calcium carbonate that cover them. The Tauroprimnoa grows in colonies shaped like a brush and their polyps have whorls; the the Digitoprgia are similar to previously known species except that the newly discovered variety has digitations at the ends of the scales of the polyps and there are no spines on the eight marginal scales and the eight rows of scales covering the polyp.
Four other new species, Thouarella bayeri, Thouarella sardana, Thouarella undulata, and Thouarella andeep were discovered near the South Georgia Islands and around Atka Bay in Antarctica. Like other polyps of their kind, their surface is covered by eight rows of scales. The differences are in the ramification pattern of the colonies, as well as in the layout of the branches, shape, and ornamentation of the scales of the polyp.
To collect the six new species from the seabed, the team used an Agassiz net, a trawling method used aboard the Polarstern during the LAMPOS, ANDEEP-SYSTCO and BENDEX campaigns for analyzing communities on the sea bed.
