Scores of New Marine Species Discovered Off Philippines

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Originally uploaded by Underwater Sports.

By Joe Spring

February 6, 2007 An international team of scientists has discovered thousands of new species of crustaceans and mollusks in waters off the Philippines.

Scientists with the Panglao Marine Biodiversity Project surveyed deep-sea and coastal ecosystems around the island of Panglao in the Bohol province of the Philippines from 2004 to 2005. They found between 150 to 250 new crustacean species and up to 2,500 new mollusk species, according to the Associated Press. The project was led by scientists at the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle and included institutions in France and the Philippines.

The marine habitat of the Philippines is part of “the coral triangle,” an area that stretches more than 2.3 million square miles from parts of Malaysia to the Solomon Islands. It covers about half the area of the entire United States and is one of the richest and most biodiverse marine habitats in the world.

“It’s the Amazon of the sea,” said Kate Newman, priority leader of the coral triangle program at the World Wildlife Fund. “You are getting two oceans, the Pacific and Indian, and all their diversity mixing.”

The French Embassy in the Philippines said this survey, which included 80 participants, was the most comprehensive ever conducted for deep-sea invertebrates in the tropics.

The discoveries include a variety of new shrimp species: fat salmon-colored shrimp with antennae longer than their bodies, mustard and tan shrimp with thick front appendages that bend like bananas, and lavender shrimp with segmented tails that look like stacked purple marshmallows.

Fifty holotypes, reference specimens bearing the new species names, were turned over by the project to the Philippine National Museum in a ceremony on Monday. Scientists from around the world will be able to use the gifts as a reference for comparison with other species.

At the ceremony a new five-year program to study and discover additional fauna, titled Census of Philippines Deep-Sea Biodiversity, was announced.

The new initiative is just one of a series of scientific expeditions in the region. This past fall, a team from Conservation International announced the discovery of 52 new species off Indonesia, including a walking shark.

“We know a lot less about the marine environment than about the terrestrial environment,” said Sebastien Troeng, director of regional marine strategies at Conservation International. “When we look closely at these regions we are coming up with so many species.”

Scientists are rushing to the region as increasing pollution and destructive fishing practices threaten marine life.

Some locals use dynamite and cyanide to kill fish, destroying reefs in the process. Conservation groups like the World Wildlife Fund, the Nature Conservancy, and Conservation International are working to stop destructive methods of fishing in the area.

Conservation International has developed a program called Seascape that identifies areas where protection is needed. These habitats range from local high-diversity patches of reef to deep marine corridors where species of sea turtles and whales travel.

The World Wildlife Fund is developing education strategies and working to divert tourism revenues to the local villages so they can police valuable marine habitats in the hopes of garnishing some long-term benefits.

“Local villagers become ecosystem managers, without being called that,” said Newman.

“One of the most important strategies for protecting these areas is developing Marine Protected Areas, or no-take zones,” said Newman. These areas would prohibit harmful fishing practices. “If you destroy a whole set of features with blast fishing and pollution you might lose whole sets of species.”

Source:
http://outside.away.com/outside/news/2007206_1.html