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Scientists find new deep-sea organisms on the seabed: they look creepy

Maria Tsikhotska

Scientists find new deep-sea organisms on the seabed: they look creepy

The extraction of minerals from the sea depths has become a cause for controversy: some argue that it is a promising source of metals, while others say it will harm the local environment. For example, mobile phones, wind turbines, and electric car batteries will not work without cobalt and nickel. But biologists fear that deep-sea mining will have a negative impact on the ocean's inhabitants.

This is reported by the BBC.

Scientists from the Natural History Museum in London have explored the seabed in the Clarion Clipperton zone in the Pacific Ocean, which is intended for deep-sea mining. In doing so, scientists were able to take an inventory of the deep sea inhabitants to assess the risk of mining to their lives.

According to the results of the study of a single huge area of the ocean floor, more than 5,000 different animals live there. According to scientist Muiel Rabone, this place is an "extremely strange environment" where creepy creatures live.

Read also: Diamonds unknown to science were found in a meteorite from Diablo Canyon in the USA

Of all the deep-sea animals found on the seabed, only 400 have been studied. The rest will have to be studied. The most interesting of them are:

tiny crustaceans that look like shrimps;

worms;

corals;

sponges made of glass;

red and orange sea cucumbers;

urchins;

ophiuchus;

sea lilies.

Mining can begin very quickly, so scientists need to study the maximum number of inhabitants of that deep-sea area to determine the risks to their existence.

As a reminder, we have already written about a strange and eerie ritual of African tribes.

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