Transparent sea cucumbers! Wildcat tubeworms! The Census of Marine Life, a decade-long international research project, has inventoried over 17,600 deep-sea species that live where no sunlight seeps through. Check out this truly remarkable footage: The findings are a cry for conservation-based ocean policy, as even deep-sea ecosystems feel human impacts. Robert S. Carney, LSU professor and co-leader of the project’s Continental Margin Ecosystems, sums it up well: “Many species live there [the “abyss”]. However, the abyss has long been viewed as a desert. Worse, it was viewed as a wasteland where few to no environmental impacts could be of any concern. ‘Mine it, drill it, dispose into it, or fish it – what could possibly be impacted? And, if there is an impact, the abyss is vast and best yet, hidden from sight.’ Census of Marine Life deep realm scientists see and are concerned.”
