"It was amazingin every single box core sample, we would see new species."
That's how Murdoch Rabone of London's Natural History Museum describes the Clarion-Clipperton Zone, a vast mineral-rich region twice the size of India that's been designated for future deep-sea mining.
To assess the potential risks and understand the biodiversity at stake, a team of biologists has created the first comprehensive checklist compiled by compiling species records from previous research expeditionsby compiling data from previous research expeditions.
In the journal Current Biology, they report that 5,578 different species have been identified in the CCZ, of which approximately 88% are completely new to science.
Rabone says it's important to understand and protect this "amazing biodiversity."
"We share this planet with all this amazing biodiversity, and we have a responsibility to understand it and protect it," he says.
"And it was amazingin every single box core sample, we would see new species."
The team used various deep-sea mining techniques to explore the CCZ, including remote-controlled vehicles and box-core sampling.
Rabone says some of the sponges look like "classic bath sponges, and some look like vases.
They're just beautiful."
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Rivaayat is an initiative by Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi to revive various dying art form and solve innumerable problems faced by the artisans. Rivaayat began with reviving a 20,000-year-old art form of pottery that is a means of survival for 600 families residing in Uttam Nagar, Delhi.