Proposed Deep-Sea Mining Zone Harbors Previously Unknown Species

The discovery of ancient clades of brittle stars at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean adds to concerns that commercial exploitation of the area could destroy numerous taxa before they’ve even been identified.

Written byCatherine Offord

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ABOVE: Deep-sea plains in the Eastern Pacific Ocean are home to many previously unidentified brittle star species. Commercial interest in metal-containing nodules (also pictured) could put those species at risk.
© ROV KIEL 6000 TEAM / GEOMAR KIEL

Researchers have discovered high levels of biodiversity in deep-sea plains in the Eastern Pacific Ocean—an area that’s already been divvied up by mining companies for commercial exploration. The study, published today (October 17) in Current Biology, describes several new taxa of brittle stars, relatives of sea stars, and warns that industrial exploitation of the region could lead to serious declines in these and many other poorly documented species.

Such biological surveys are “of huge importance,” says Thomas Dahlgren, a marine scientist at the University of Gothenburg who wasn’t involved in the study. The sort of deep-sea plains the team studied cover about 45 percent of the Earth’s surface, he says, but “we know ...

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Meet the Author

Catherine Offord
After undergraduate research with spiders at the University of Oxford and graduate research with ants at Princeton University, Catherine left arthropods and academia to become a science journalist. She has worked in various guises at The Scientist since 2016. As Senior Editor, she wrote articles for the online and print publications, and edited the magazine’s Notebook, Careers, and Bio Business sections. She reports on subjects ranging from cellular and molecular biology to research misconduct and science policy. Find more of her work at her website.
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