Over 100 new species records possible from French Frigate Shoals
A three-week scientific expedition to French Frigate Shoals in the
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument returned to Honolulu
on Sunday with the discovery of many new species and a better understanding
of marine biodiversity in the Hawaiian Archipelago.
An all-star team of world-renowned taxonomists (biologists specializing in
identifying and naming organisms) and an experienced support crew collected
and photographed many species that they cannot identify and are thought to
be new species to science. The expedition found several potentially new
species of crabs, corals, sea cucumbers, sea quirts, worms, sea stars,
snails, and clams. Many other species were found that are known from other
areas but have never been recorded from French Frigate Shoals, the
Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, or even the Hawaiian Archipelago. From this
expedition, well over a hundred new species records will likely be
identified for French Frigate Shoals.
Scientists aboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Ship
Oscar Elton Sette conducted biodiversity surveys at French Frigate Shoals,
with a focus on the small marine organisms - crabs, worms, and many other
invertebrates, algae, and even microbes - which are often overlooked but
that make up the majority of living diversity on coral reefs. "It was a very
successful expedition by almost any criterion, and the discovery phase has
really only just begun. In the coming months, and even over the next several
years, we will be conducting morphological examinations and analyzing
genetic sequence data in order to further identify and classify these
organisms, and possibly to shed some light on where these species
originated," said Dr. Joel W. Martin of the Natural History Museum of Los
Angeles County. "What we did not find is also important. There were several
groups of animals that we expected to find but did not find, or found only
rarely, such as porcellanid crabs. The apparent absence of these common reef
organisms may provide insight into how the unique flora and fauna of French
Frigate Shoals came to be."
Full story at
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-10/coml-ns103006.php
No comments:
Post a Comment