A close up view of the red body and spikes of an abyssal sea urchin.

These deep-sea animals are new to science—and already at risk

About 90 percent of species found in the Clarion Clipperton Zone have never been identified, yet they may be at risk from mining for minerals such as cobalt and nickel.

This sea urchin, found in the deep-sea Clarion Clipperton Zone, is one of many diverse species living at depths of up to 18,000 feet. 
Photograph by SMARTEX Project/Natural Environment Research Council, UK/smartexccz.org

Spanning 1.7 million square miles of ocean from Hawaii to Mexico, a hidden underwater world teems with life. More than 5,500 deep-sea species reside in the area of the Pacific known as the Clarion Clipperton Zone, and roughly 90 percent of them have yet to be described by science, according to a new study.

“Everything in the [deep sea] is extremely cold and obviously completely dark,” says Adrian Glover, a co-author on the study and scientist at the Natural History Museum of London, which led the research. “The amount of food is very low. Yet somehow—you know, the cheesy Jurassic Park line—life finds a way to survive down there.”

To create a comprehensive inventory of all the species living

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