‘Spectacular’ deep-sea species discovered
SAN FRANCISCO — Scientists diving amid deepwater corals and ranging the shallows for sea creatures never seen before have returned to the California Academy of Sciences from an expedition in the Philippines bearing new collections of exotic ocean life and a record of discovery for countless new species.
The life forms the researchers observed during their sea-going venture are “so amazing, spectacular and weird,” said academy biologist Terry Gosliner, that they will help shed new light on animal evolution and advance measures to protect the diversity of the long-threatened underwater region.
Gosliner led the sevenweek expedition to a remote ocean region called the Verde Island Passage that lies between the islands of Luzon and Mindoro. It’s “one of the most astounding regions of biodiversity on Earth,” Gosliner said. Some 90 scientists and their assistants joined the venture.
Teams of researchers scoured the near-shore shallows, netted organisms from the sea surface and dove to near-record depths of between 150 and 500 feet on the sea bottom, using specialized rebreathing equipment, to collect their samples.
Gary Williams, a leading academy expert on the soft corals found in tropical seas, estimated that during more than 70 dives at 100 to 130 feet — most of them at night — he discovered “a dozen or more” new species of the corals known as gorgonians, or sea fans. He said he found scores of other strange coral species that are still unidentified.
Rich Mooi, an academy curator known for his research into the genetics and evolution of echinoderms — the group that includes sea urchins, starfish, sea cucumbers and sand dollars — said the mission provided a special opportunity to work alongside Philippine scientists.
“There they are with this great big wonderful ocean right in their own backyard, and they shared it with us,” he said. .
As many as 1,200 species of the sea urchins that Mooi studies are already known, and while teams might typically identify only one or two new species a year at most, there are probably least 10 undiscovered ones among the spectacularly colorful echinoderms Mooi collected during his dives, he said.
A major purpose of the expedition was to collect samples of the many varied animals that the scientists found. While the researchers started their work in improvised labs ashore and on their boats, most kept samples to be studied in more detail — including DNA — in labs back home.
The team at the California academy in Golden Gate Park brought back many examples of the creatures they’d found, Gosliner said. The nearsurface ones are now living in the academy’s aquarium tanks behind the scenes. They will be on public ex- hibit next year along with the deepwater organisms the scientists brought back once they are gradually accustomed to live at sea level.
Gosliner estimated that the expedition’s scientists have probably discovered at least 100 new species among the varied animals they found and collected — although their identities must still be confirmed by rigorous examination in the academy’s labs, he said.
Every one of the newly discovered species can hold a key to its own evolution, the scientists said. By comparing each detail of an animal’s body with older examples of the same species in the academy and in museums around the world — and even with fossils from long ago — scientists can learn how those bodies changed and adapted to changing environments over time.
The academy’s scientists have led more than 30 expeditions to the Philippines over the past 30 years, and their discoveries will help the Philippine government create new marine protected areas throughout the region to preserve its spectacular biodiversity, Gosliner said.
dperlman@sfchronicle.com