HUNDREDS of deep-sea species new to science are disappearing before they can be identified or studied, oceanographers are warning. The organisms are being pushed to extinction by trawlers targeting undersea volcanic mountains called seamounts.
In the past two years, scientists have found that seamounts are home to an astonishing diversity of species, with 40 per cent endemic to each mountain. Thousands of new species have been discovered in recent years – 600 on just five seamounts. And with 30,000 seamounts estimated to be in the Pacific alone, a huge slice of biodiversity is at risk.
“They are hot spots for the evolution of new species,” says…
