14 DAY TRIAL // We are looking for life in other worlds and we have not actually catalogued the entire life on Earth yet. And perhaps the most unexplored life on Earth is found in deep sea, for obvious reasons.
A team of U.S. and Philippine scientists led by Dr. Larry Maddin of the Massachusetts-based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, has found unknown species isolated for millions of years during an investigation made in the Celebes Sea, south of the Philippines.
"The sea is at the heart of the "coral triangle" bordered by the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia, a region recognized by scientists as having a high degree of biological diversity." said Madin.
The deepest point of the Celebes Sea is 16,500 feet (5,500 m), but the team could reach a depth of about 9,100 feet (3,033 m) using a remotely operated camera.
"This is probably the center where many of the species evolved and spread to other parts of the ocean, so it's going back to the source in many ways," said Madin.
The project was carried on by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and National Geographic Magazine in cooperation with the Philippine government that furnished the exploration ship.
The group included over 24 researchers and Emory Kristof, the underwater photographer who took the first shoots of the Titanic's wreckage in 1985. The group researchers have spent about two weeks in the Celebes Sea off Tawi-Tawi, the Philippines' southernmost provincial archipelago, located about 700 miles (1,150 km) south of Manila.
"The specimens we have collected include several possibly newly discovered species. One is a sea cucumber that is nearly transparent which can swim by bending its elongated body. Another is a black jellyfish found near the sea floor." said Madin. "The most striking creature found is a spiny orange-colored worm that had 10 tentacles like a squid. We don't know what it is ... it might be something new," he said.
The team will need a few weeks to see if the species are newly discovered.
"The Celebes Sea, being surrounded by islands and shallow reefs, is partially isolated now and may have been more isolated millions of years ago. There may be groups of organisms that have been contained and kept within the basin since then. That makes it an interesting place to go and look to see what we might find," said Madin.