Canberra - Australian and German marine scientists have
discovered the world's largest number of new species of carnivorous
sponges from a deep-sea expedition off Australia's east coast.
At least 17 new species were found after the 2017 scientific voyage
where the team of scientists discovered the sponges that live at
depths of up to 4,000 metres below the surface of the sea, Queensland
Museum said in a statement on Wednesday.
Previously, only three species of carnivorous sponges were known in
Australia.
Queensland Museum's researchers had worked with scientists from the
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in finding and naming the
species found along the eastern Australian coast, from northern
Queensland to Tasmania.
The findings were published recently in the science journal Zootaxa.
The very rare carnivorous sponge discovery was exciting, Merrick
Ekins, manager of Queensland Museum's immobile marine invertebrates
collection said.
"Traditionally sponges are filter feeders (sucking out passing
plankton or nutrients in the water), yet these species, which are
found at the bottom of the ocean, have evolved as predators that
catch and digest their prey directly," Ekins said.
He said many of the newly-discovered sponges were found on the ocean
floor at depths between 2,000 and 4,000 metres.
"I would say it is the biggest haul of carnivorous sponges from any
one expedition in the world," he said.
"We know more about the surface of Mars than we know about our deep
oceans, so it's important for scientists to continue to explore the
abysses below," Queensland Museum's chief executive Jim Thompson said
in a statement.