![]() “It is difficult to protect or preserve an ecosystem when we don’t know who lives in that system or how they interact with each other – and humans are already having an impact on the ocean. “We, collectively the human population, need to spend more time and funds exploring and learning about the ocean – the largest habitat on Earth,” says Matsumoto. A 2019 study of the bay found high concentrations of microplastics even at great depths. The finding also comes as marine environments such as the Monterey Bay face increasing pressures from climate change and pollution. MBARI researchers have documented more than 225 new species from explorations in Monterey Bay over the past 34 years – but the deep zone is one of the least explored places. ![]() According to a study from 2012, the average time between the discovery of a new species and its “description” – eg the process of formally describing a newly identified species to the scientific community – is 21 years. It also takes time to publish the findings. Noaa estimates that humans have only described 10% of what can be found in the ocean. Millions of species live in the deep-sea – and many are still unknown. The existence of this jelly raises questions about species that live in the global ocean and haven’t yet been described. “We hope that by publishing images and videos that our colleagues around the world will keep their eyes open for these undescribed types.” “We have seen even fewer of these than our recent new species so we need to wait to find some more samples before we can definitely say that they are also new species,” he says. ![]() They hope to use DNA to eventually describe these new additions to Atolla’s family tree. Matsumoto and his coauthors believe two more previously unknown species of Atolla also live in the depths of Monterey Bay, California – alongside the ten types of Atolla that are already known around the world. The species is only known from Monterey Bay and lives at depths of 1,013 to 3,189 meters. Its flowing tentacles can reach 100 feet (30. One of the largest, the lion’s mane jelly, has a giant-sized bell eight feet (2.4 m) across. Graceful and sometimes dangerous, jellies range in size from miniscule to enormous. It’s also not as common as other types of Atolla – researchers have only observed 10 specimens between April 2006 and June 2021. Their bodies are made up of more than 95 percent water. The newly described jelly is larger than other Atollas – the largest specimen MBARI researchers collected was 13 centimeters in diameter. They have now created enough details to formally identify one of them, naming it the Atolla reynoldsiin a research paper published last month. The researchers collected numerous specimens of three different Atolla-like jellies that lacked the tentacle. By area, it is a dark, deep-ocean planet. A new species of deep-sea crown jelly, Atolla reynoldsi, discovered by MBARI researchers. We call it the blue planet yet actually the blue bit is only the surface layer.
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