Thousands of unidentified deep-sea species found in part of Pacific Ocean earmarked for mining

Some of the thousands of deep-sea specimens found in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone. (Supplied: Natural History Museum London)

An area of sea floor between Hawaii and Mexico is rich in the critical minerals needed to build batteries.

But the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) is also rich in marine life — much of it virtually unknown to science, according to new research published today.