New Species Found in Philippine Waters. Good News Kababayan! A team of US and Filipino scientists plunged up to five kilometres (three miles) underwater in early October in an area that has been isolated by rising sea levels and may have spawned sea life not found elsewhere.
One of the Species found. A red medusa jellyfish of the genus Atolla is seen swimming in this handout photograph from WHOI’s expedition to the Celebes Sea in October 2007.
They collected between 50 and 100 potentially undiscovered species of marine invertebrates and fishes.
The survey was conducted by Woods Hole, National Geographic and Filipino scientists at the Coral Triangle, bodies of water bounded by the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia that are known to contain the world’s richest biodiversity in shallow water marine species.
It will take a few more weeks of study of the deepwater sea life samples before they can be declared new species, Madin said during a video presentation of the findings in Manila. (The player requires faster connection of the internet. Be patient.)
Some of the new species found are:
A square jaw and edgy brow give a distinctive profile to this boxfish, one of many exotic marine creatures recently found by scientists exploring Southeast Asia’s Celebes Sea.
A 0.2-inch-long (0.5-centimeter-long) larval squid is seen through a microscope’s lens in this handout image released October 16, 2007, by WHOI.
A translucent jellyfish of the family Aequorea swims near the surface of Southeast Asia’s Celebes Sea in October 2007
An image of a sample dish full of tiny marine life reveals several jellyfish, a lantern fish, a snipe eel, two orange shrimp, and a jellyfish-like creature called a pyrosome. WHOI released this and other images on October 16, 2007, during a media announcement.
Experts will be studying the hundred specimens brought back from the expedition to determine which species are new discoveries.
The research was partly funded by WHOI, the National Geographic Society’s Expeditions Council, the nonprofit Conservation International, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the Philippine government.
Source : The National Geographic News
New Species Found in Philippine Waters by Pinoy Ambisyoso.
This is a welcome news for us. I hope that we start a serious program to protect our flora and fauna.
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the square fish was staring at me
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Sharmain San (1 comments.) Reply:
May 14th, 2008 at 12:40 am
Actually, the LARVAL SQUID was staring at me instead, not the boxfish. LOL hahaha (^^,)
Sharmain Sans last blog post..HAHAHA!
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Truly there’s still so much to discover in this planet of ours. I love watching National Geographic and Discovery Channel because of the powerful information given by them, especially to ordinary people like myself.
Deep in our oceans lie some great mysteries..I’m glad we’re still around to know some of them.
I think that jellyfish is deadly poisonous.
thess’s last blog post..when no one cares
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The red jellyfish reminds me the Alien film. Dito lang pala sa atin makikita itong mga ito. Paolo, sa akin naman nakatingin yung boxfish. Crush ako siguro hahaha
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hi ambo. nice blog. keep it up!
bobot\’s last blog post..Levi’s Bday @ Ranco…
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that’s why i don’t understand why space programs and E.T. search projects get a lot of funding when we don’t even have a full catalog of all the species on this planet! excellent post ambo!
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hello ambo. interesting stuff. thanks for sharing. bookmarked
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mukhang alien. ehehehe.
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Thank you. Thank you guys!
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wow ang galing mo naman… nakkatakot yung mga itsura nho? parang space ship :D
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Great photos.
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