Image courtesy of Paul Satchell/The Nippon Foundation/Nekton Ocean Census/Schmidt Ocean Institute.
Joel Kontinen
An ongoing census of sea life in the South Atlantic has identified over 1000 new creatures, including a new species of sea pen.
Odd creatures are found in the depths of the sea. If you think this picture looks a bit like a feather pen, then you’d be correct. Except it’s not the type that you can write with. It is a type of coral that is found 805 metres below the sea level.
Sea pens
are a type of coral that live on the sea floor and are made up of several
specialised polyps. This particular sea pen is new to science, and was
discovered at a depth of 805 metres on Mystery Ridge off the South Sandwich
Islands, a chain of islands in the South Atlantic Ocean. It was found thanks to
the Nippon Foundation-Nekton Ocean Census, a global programme aiming to
discover 100,000 new marine species over the seas.
Source:
Michael Dalton 2026
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