GLOBAL: Marine census publishes latest findings

The latest research from a global effort to document all known ocean life has been made public. The Census of Marine Life project has published an inventory of species distribution and diversity in 25 ocean areas from the Antarctic to tropical seas.

The information in open access journal PLoS ONE is expected to guide future decisions on exploration of the oceans, much of which has yet to be explored, and provides baseline information.

Among the key findings is that Australian and Japanese waters are the most biodiverse on the planet, with almost 33,000 different species each.

They are followed by the oceans off China, the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.

The species inventories cover 25 different regions: Antarctica, Atlantic Europe, Australia, Baltic Sea, Brazil, Canada (East, West and Arctic), Caribbean Sea, China, Indian Ocean, Japan, Mediterranean Sea, New Zealand, South Africa, South America (Tropical East Pacific and Tropical West Atlantic), South Korea, the Humboldt Current, the Patagonian Shelf, and the US (Northeast, Southeast, Hawaii, Gulf of Mexico, and California).

Inventories are also being compiled for Indonesia, Madagascar and the Arabian Sea.

The Census reports that about one-fifth of all species found in the regions were crustaceans. Molluscs accounted for 17% of the species and fish for 12%.

The creatures found across the greatest number of regions included algae and single-celled animals found in plankton, and the seabirds and marine mammals that traverse the oceans throughout their lives.

Among fish, the manylight viperfish (Chauliodus sloani) was found to be most widespread, being recorded in more than a quarter of the world's marine waters.

Dr Patricia Miloslavich of Venezuela's Universidad Simón Bolívar, a co-senior scientist of the Census and leader of the regional studies, says the census explored new areas and ecosystems and discovered new species.

But it also reviewed what had been documented by scientists in the past - bringing together information that was scattered or unavailable except at a very local level.

"The Census has made a tremendous contribution by bringing order to chaos," she says.

The lead author of the summary, Dr Mark Costello of the Leigh Marine Laboratory, University of Auckland, New Zealand, says the inventory is underpinned by sparse, uneven marine sampling in much of the world and future research will undoubtedly alter it.

Nevertheless, the inventory was urgently needed for two reasons, Costello says.

"First, dwindling expertise in taxonomy impairs society's ability to discover and describe new species. And second, marine species have suffered major declines - in some cases 90% losses - because of human activities and may be heading for extinction, as happened to many species on land."

The Census of Marine Life began in 2000 and will conclude in October this year. It has involved more than 2,700 scientists from over 80 countries.