Robots have discovered 39 potential new species at the bottom of the ocean. Researchers at the Natural History Museum said the undescribed organisms represent a fraction of the undiscovered species from the deep sea, which scientists are working to understand.
A remotely operated vehicle (ROV) allowed the samples - collected from the abyssal plains of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone in the central Pacific - to be brought to the surface. This enabled scientists to get a much better idea of the organisms living at depths of 3,100 to 5,100 metres below sea level.
In the past animals from this area had only been studied in photographs. Remarkably, 48 of the 55 specimens recovered were different species, and only nine of the 48 were known to science.
